Built and Socioeconomic Environments and Physical Activity in U.S. Adolescents
Author Information
Author(s): Janne Boone-Heinonen, Kelly R. Evenson, Yan Song, Penny Gordon-Larsen
Primary Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Hypothesis
How do built and socioeconomic environmental characteristics confound associations with physical activity in U.S. adolescents?
Conclusion
Environmental characteristics are inter-related, and both built and socioeconomic environments should be considered in analyses to minimize confounding.
Supporting Evidence
- Three built environment constructs were identified: homogenous landscape, development intensity with high pay facility count, and development intensity with high public facility count.
- Confounding of built environment-MVPA associations by socioeconomic environment factors was stronger than among built environment factors.
- Single proxy measures representing each environmental construct replicated associations with MVPA.
Takeaway
The places where kids live can affect how much they move around, and it's important to look at both the buildings and the community when studying this.
Methodology
Principal factor analysis and sex-stratified multivariate negative binomial regression models were used to analyze the data.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to residential self-selection and the use of neighborhood-level data.
Limitations
The study design is cross-sectional, which does not imply causality, and there may be temporal mismatches between individual-level interviews and GIS data sources.
Participant Demographics
Adolescents aged 11-22 years, representative of the U.S. school-based population in grades 7 to 12.
Statistical Information
Confidence Interval
0.91 (0.86, 0.96)
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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