Community and Child Physical Activity: Differential Associations by Gender and Age

Lori Kowaleski-Jones, University of Utah
Jessie X. Fan, University of Utah
Ming Wen, University of Utah

To address the physical inactivity (PA) trend and the health consequences, there is a growing interest in the ecological approach. A key assumption about the ecological model is that neighborhood environments exert contextual effects on individual levels of PA over and above individual-level risk or protective factors. The goal of this research is to examine the extent to which facets of neighborhood socio-demographic contexts influence individual-level PA among children. We use multiple data sources to examine our research questions, including the 2000 Census data and the 2003-2004 wave of the NHANES III. We construct diverse measures of neighborhood environment and PA. We develop environmental models of PA that incorporate important aspects of the social environment in residential areas. In doing so, we aim to identify contextual features that have the greatest impact on child PA in order to inform interventions aimed to support child PA and promote health.