Environmental and Individual Correlates of Various Types of Physical Activity among Community-Dwelling Middle-Aged and Elderly Japanese

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested the importance of the neighborhood environment in determining the specific type of physical activity. However, few studies on this topic have been undertaken in Japan. This study examined the association of three types of physical activity and their associations with individual and neighborhood environmental factors among middle-aged and elderly Japanese. Participants were 2,449 adults aged 40–69 living in Fujisawa city who had undergone health checkups and responded to our survey by mail. Individual factors, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (long form), and its environmental module acted as inputs to the study. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of high levels of moderate-to-vigorous intensity leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), walking for active recreation, and transportation were calculated in relation to individual and neighborhood environmental factors through multiple logistic regression models. Not working and good self-rated health were significantly associated with a higher level of each physical activity outcome. According to the adjusted ORs, higher educational attainment, higher economic status, good access to exercise facilities, and owning motor vehicles were associated with longer LTPA time. However, different sets of factors were associated with longer walking times for recreation and transportation. The results suggest that diverse individual and neighborhood environmental characteristics are associated with different physical activity outcomes. Therefore, customizing environments to become activity-friendly is necessary to increase physical activity effectively among middle-aged and elderly Japanese.

Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics

“…This study controls for older residents’ personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender, marital status and ethnicity) because evidence shows that people’s personal characteristics affect their walking levels [44,45,46]. …”

Health, psychological, social and environmental mediators between socio-economic inequalities and participation in exercise among elderly Japanese

“…This variable was composed of four items based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for the Elderly (Inoue et al, 2009a(Inoue et al, , 2009b. We added 11 items (seven core and four recommended items) from the module (17 items) to the questionnaire, based on a study by Saito et al (2013). To score each item, we followed the system that they used.…”

“…In Western countries, various studies have examined differences in the levels of exercise and PA resulting from differences in socio-economic status (SES); persons with low SES are less likely to exercise and be physically active, even if the outcomes are somehow distinguished by the type of exercise and PA being measured (Blair, 1988;Gidlow et al, 2006;Beenackers et al, 2012). Studies conducted in Asian Pacific countries, such as Taiwan and China (Lee et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2015;Lin et al, 2016), Australia (Eime et al, 2015) and Japan (Anzai et al, 2000;Fukuda et al, 2005;Saito et al, 2013) support the notion that in those regions, SES differences impact levels of both exercise and PA. Although there have been a few studies on older adults in regard to this matter (Walsh et al, 2001;Chad et al, 2005;Hillsdon et al, 2008;Ashe et al, 2009;Browning et al, 2009;Haley and Andel, 2010;Yamakita et al, 2015), these have also found SES differences to impact on levels of both exercise and PA in older adults.…”

Conformity to the neighborhood modifies the association between recreational walking and social norms among middle‐aged Japanese people

“…Neighborhood social norms for RW can widen an individual's intention-behavior gap. Recent studies on walking behavior (Ball et al, 2007;Ball, Jeffery, Abbott, McNaughton, & Crawford, 2010;Granner, Sharpe, Hutto, Wilcox, & Addy, 2007;McNeill, Kreuter, & Subramanian, 2006;Saito, Oguma, Inoue, Tanaka, & Kobori, 2013;Van Cauwenberg et al, 2011) reported that neighborhood social factors (i.e. social cohesion, social capital, deprivation, and safety) were important relevant determinants in addition to individual psychological factors (i.e.…”