BMC Public Health 2007, 7:230 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/230 of acculturation and leisure time physical activity. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, education and marital status. To assess whether these associations differed by the presence of contextual barriers (having children, occupa- tional physical activity, less attractive neighbourhood), we conducted stratified analyses [50]. Results Description of the sample Of the total study population 44% was born in Turkey (first generation) and 56% in the Netherlands with at least one parent born in Turkey (second generation). Regarding the contextual barriers, approximately one-third of the participants perceived their neighbourhood environment as less attractive or had children under the age of 16. The barrier of occupational physical activity was found among only 16% of the participants (Table 1). Approximately 45% of all participants did not participate in any physical activity during their leisure time. Table 1 also shows the characteristics according to the par- ticipants' level of activity. As expected, the participants with a greater orientation towards the Dutch culture or having more contacts with ethnic Dutch were more often physically active during leisure time than the participants who were less oriented towards the Dutch culture. Partic- ipants living in an attractive neighbourhood and the par- ticipants without children were more often physically active during leisure time than the participants who did have these barriers. For the overall measure of contextual barriers we also found that the participants with one or more of the mentioned barriers were less often physically active during leisure time than the participants with none of these barriers. For occupational physical activity we found no significant associations. Associations of the acculturation indicators with physical activity during leisure time Table 2 shows the associations between acculturation and physical activity during leisure time expressed in Odds Ratio's (OR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). These associations are adjusted for age, sex, education and mar- ital status. Both indicators of acculturation were positively associated with physical activity during leisure time. The odds for 'cultural orientation' was 1.85 (CI: 1.19–2.85) and 1.77 (CI: 1.15–2.71) for social contacts (Table 2). Stratification by the contextual barriers Table 3 shows the adjusted associations of the accultura- tion indicators with physical activity during leisure time stratified by 1) having children, 2) occupational physical activity and 3) attractiveness of the neighbourhood. Both indicators of acculturation had a significant influence on physical activity during leisure time among the partici- pants without children, without occupational physical activity and among participants who perceived their neighbourhood as attractive. The odds of 'Cultural orien- tation' were 2.17 (CI:1.22–3.85) for participants who per- ceived their neighbourhood as attractive, 2.18 (CI: 1.29– 3.71) for the participants without children and 1.76 (CI: 1.04–2.96) for participants without physical activity at work. For 'social contacts with ethnic Dutch' we found similar associations with odds of 1.76 (CI: 1.04–2.99) for the participants who perceived their neighbourhood as attractive, 1.87 (CI: 1.11–3.14) for participants without children and 1.83 (CI: 1.08–3.10) for the participants without occupational physical activity (Table 3). In con- trast, among the participants who did experience the men- tioned barriers, we found no significant associations between acculturation and physical activity during leisure time. However, in some cases the odds were on a similar or even higher level than within the group without the barrier, though not significant. This was found amongst others for the effect of cultural orientation within the group with occupational physical activity. In figures 2 and 3, the associations between acculturation and physical activity during leisure time are shown for the participants in an "exercise-inhibiting context" (having at least one of the barriers) versus participants in an "exercise supportive context" (persons without any of the three bar- riers). This measure was calculated based on the sum score of all three barriers. Cultural orientation was significantly associated with physical activity during leisure time among the participants who did not experience any of the ) 7 R (O6 y iitv 5 t la c 4 a ic 3 s y h 2 p e 1 m i t re 0 u s i e l exercise -supportive context exercise-inhibiting context tpFAuroisrgesresuot'eicrvanienactdec2ioponhftybceseoxictnawtaleenaxedctntui≥va'ic1tlyubldtaurrriainelgrosler=(iesneunoxrteeabtrtaicormirsneieet-sroitsnwrh=aaitbriefiditxeisendDrgcbcuiysotectn-htseucxput-l)- Association between 'cultural orientation towards Dutch cul- ture' and physical activity during leisure time stratified by the presence of contextual barriers (no barriers = exercise-sup- portive context and ≥1 barrier = exercise-inhibiting context). White square: Low oriented towards Dutch culture (refer- ence group). Black square: Highly oriented towards Dutch culture. Page 4 of 9 (page number not for citation purposes)