Adolescent’s movement behaviors and built environment: a latent class analysis

Abstract

Background Latent class analysis (LCA) is an alternative and innovative approach to verify the relation of the various combinations of the constructed environment and movement behavior (levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) characteristics. This study aimed to identify latent classes based on the characteristics of the neighborhood environment perceived by adolescents and their association with gender, socioeconomic status (SS), body composition and movement behaviors. Methods This cross-sectional study includes 309 Brazilian adolescents (14 to 16 years old, 57% female). The characteristics of the neighborhood environment perceived were analyzed by the Neighborhood Walkability for Youth Scale. Accelerometers were used for a week to evaluate the movement behaviors. Questionnaires assessed the screen times, total sitting time (TST), and sociodemographic characteristics. LCA was used for modeling the “Perceived Enviroment” variable, having been conducted in the poLCA (Polychromous Variable Latent Class Analysis) package of the R statistical software. Results Three classes were recognized: class 1, “Best Perceived Environment” with 23.03% of adolescents; class 2, “Moderate Perceived Environment”, 63.33%; and class 3, “Worst Perceived Environment”, 13.67%. Light physical activity (LPA), TST, and SS were associated with class prevalence. The adolescents with medium and low SS were, respectively, 3.42 (95% CI 1.62–7.21) and 4.18 (95% CI 1.66–10.50) more likely to belong to class 2, and those with low SS were 5.21 (95% CI 1.35–20.13) more likely to belong to class 3. Class 1 adolescents were associated with a lower chance (OR: 0.09, 95% CI 0.02–0.55) of involvement in ‘adequate LPA time’ compared to class 3. Class 1 adolescents were associated with a lower chance (OR: 0.31, 95% CI 0.12–0.79) of involvement in ‘adequate TST’ compared to class 2. There was a difference between the LPA and TST classes; class 3 presented a longer time in LPA than class 1; class 1 had higher TST than the other classes. Conclusion The findings highlight the influence of neighborhood classes on adolescents’ LPA and TST.

Ecological correlates related to adolescent movement behaviors: A latent class analysis

“…Despite being the first study in small countryside city, without adequate urban planning, these findings should be examined with caution. It is essential to highlight that a recent study conducted by our group [ 47 ], analyzing latent classes of built environment and its association with PA and sedentary time, demonstrated consistent results. The individuals who lived in more unfavorable neighborhoods performed about 20 minutes more LPA per day and performed less sedentary activities compared to residents of the best neighborhood.…”

“…Third, due to the lack of validated cut-off points for the classification of some manifest and covariate variables, cut-off points were adopted based on the sample percentiles (25 and 75). It is worth emphasizing that the 25th and 75th percentiles were applied in other LCA studies [ 17 , 18 , 47 ] and can be useful for comparing adolescents and their peers. Finally, the subjectivity associated with the questionnaires used to collect information from the correlates, although this is the only way to collect some of this information.…”

“…Thus, the 25th percentile (25thP), and the 75th percentile (75thP) were used as cutoff points because they were the values that resulted in a better fit of the variables observed in the latent variable model. Furthermore, they were the same cutoff points used by Faria et al [ 17 ] and Caetano et al [ 47 ]. The 75thP was also applied to the number of steps, as previously used by Faria et al [ 17 ] and Miranda et al [ 18 ] since only a small percentage of participants (13.3%) reached the cut-off point of 11,700 steps proposed by Tudor-Locke et al [ 48 ].…”

Built environment and physical activity in adolescents: Use of the kernel density estimation and the walkability index

“…In this context, walkability is an important characteristic of the urban environment and measures how inviting an area is for pedestrians to access different parts of the city on foot or by bicycle [12,13]. Different walkability indexes were studied to verify the influence of the built environment in the active behaviors of adolescents [14][15][16][17].…”

Comportamentos habituais de adolescentes: padrão de sono, da prática de atividade física e tempo sedentário

“…O "tempo total gasto em CS" é frequentemente avaliado como tempo sedentário dispendido em frente as "telas" ou "assistindo televisão" (WHO, 2020 A recomendação diária de duração do sono para adolescentes são entre oito a 10 horas por noite (HIRSHKOWITZ et al, 2015;. Entretanto, alguns estudos apontam que mais da metade da população avaliada não alcançou essa recomendação YING et al, 2020) incluindo jovens brasileiros CAETANO et al, 2021;. Para adolescentes que atingem a recomendação, o sono constitui 33-42% do ciclo de 24 horas, o que representa mais de um terço do comportamento diário.…”