Understanding Physical Activity Environmental Correlates: Increased Specificity for Ecological Models

Giles-Corti, Billie; Timperio, Anna; Bull, Fiona; Pikora, Terri

doi:10.1097/00003677-200510000-00005

Cited by 569 publications

(517 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Land use mix, composite walkability indices and neighborhood type were nevertheless consistently associated with higher physical activity levels even after controlling for neighborhood self-selection. Moreover, the built environment was found to be more supportive of walking and cycling compared with physical activity more generally-congruent with previous findings [10,24,25] and with current knowledge regarding behavior-specific environmental settings [61]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

In search of causality: a systematic review of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among adults

McCormack¹,

Shiell²

2011

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

698

554

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BackgroundEmpirical evidence suggests that an association between the built environment and physical activity exists. This evidence is mostly derived from cross-sectional studies that do not account for other causal explanations such as neighborhood self-selection. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs can be used to isolate the effect of the built environment on physical activity, but in their absence, statistical techniques that adjust for neighborhood self-selection can be used with cross-sectional data. Previous reviews examining the built environment-physical activity relationship have not differentiated among findings based on study design. To deal with self-selection, we synthesized evidence regarding the relationship between objective measures of the built environment and physical activity by including in our review: 1) cross-sectional studies that adjust for neighborhood self-selection and 2) quasi-experiments.MethodIn September 2010, we searched for English-language studies on built environments and physical activity from all available years in health, leisure, transportation, social sciences, and geographical databases. Twenty cross-sectional and 13 quasi-experimental studies published between 1996 and 2010 were included in the review.ResultsMost associations between the built environment and physical activity were in the expected direction or null. Land use mix, connectivity and population density and overall neighborhood design were however, important determinants of physical activity. The built environment was more likely to be associated with transportation walking compared with other types of physical activity including recreational walking. Three studies found an attenuation in associations between built environment characteristics and physical activity after accounting for neighborhood self-selection.ConclusionMore quasi-experiments that examine a broader range of environmental attributes in relation to context-specific physical activity and that measure changes in the built environment, neighborhood preferences and their effect on physical activity are needed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

In search of causality: a systematic review of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among adults

McCormack¹,

Shiell²

2011

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

698

554

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Although slight, this additional gain in associations may be due to the contextspecificity of the measures. As suggested by Giles-Corti et al [54], when environmental measures more closely match with the setting in which the behavior takes place, the predictive capacity of the model improves. Interestingly, a relationship between perceived park quality and park-based physical activity during last visit did not emerge in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Definitions of both neighborhood and parks were provided for respondents. Specifically, neighborhood was defined as "the area within a 10-to 15-min walk from your home" [53,54], and parks were identified as "a public park or outdoor recreation area in the community that is designed for active or passive use" [55]. This approach was chosen because respondents may not necessarily think of the park that we used to identify the census blocks for sampling as their neighborhood park, and it often was not their closest park.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality: Associations with Physical Activity and Body Mass Index

et al. 2013

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Background Parks are important resources for physical activity (PA), yet few studies have examined how perceptions of park characteristics relate to PA and health. Purpose This study investigated associations between perceptions of neighborhood park quality and overall moderateto-vigorous PA (MVPA), park-based PA, and body mass index (BMI). Methods Data were collected via questionnaire from 893 households in Kansas City, Missouri. Results The newly developed neighborhood park quality scale demonstrated good test-retest and internal reliability. Residents' perceptions of neighborhood park quality were related to PA and health outcomes. Perceiving parks as a benefit was positively related to overall MVPA and park-based PA and negatively related to BMI. Perceptions of well-used parks were positively related to BMI, while perceived cleanliness was negatively related to parkbased PA. Conclusions Better measuring and understanding how perceptions of local parks are associated with PA and health can improve appreciation of how parks facilitate active living.

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“…Distance to sports facilities, neighbourhood characteristics and sports participation Despite theoretical agreement on the positive effect of sports facilities being available at an acceptable distance (Giles-Corti, Timperio, Bull, & Pikora, 2005;Sallis et al, 2006), empirical studies have shown mixed results regarding the influence of objectively measured accessibility and availability of sports infrastructure on sports participation, partly due to the use of different definitions 240…”

Section: Literature Review and Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Too busy or too far away? The importance of subjective constraints and spatial factors for sports frequency

Deelen

Ettema

Dijst

2016

Managing Sport and Leisure

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Previous studies on the association between the availability of sports facilities and sports participation have neglected the influence of subjective constraints that individuals experience with regard to sports participation. This paper investigates to what extent constraints experienced by sports participants are associated with their spatial circumstances and whether these subjective constraints or objective spatial circumstances have a greater impact on sports frequency. Based on a survey among 776 adults in urban and rural municipalities in the Netherlands, regression analyses revealed that constraints were related to neighbourhood liveability and distance to indoor sports facilities and swimming pools. Time constraints had a strong negative effect on sports frequency, but the effect of distance to indoor facilities and swimming pools was even more important. Our results furthermore indicate a growing need for flexibility in the spatiotemporal organization of sports activities and an increased importance of the public space for sports participation.

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Understanding Physical Activity Environmental Correlates: Increased Specificity for Ecological Models

Cited by 569 publications

References 12 publications

In search of causality: a systematic review of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among adults

In search of causality: a systematic review of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among adults

Perceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality: Associations with Physical Activity and Body Mass Index

Too busy or too far away? The importance of subjective constraints and spatial factors for sports frequency

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