Relation Between Environment and Activity

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Topics:
Healthy Youth | Nutrition & Physical Activity for Adults | Nutrition & Physical Activity for Youth

Physical inactivity is associated with obesity, and both factors have a disproportionate effect by race or ethnicity, income, and education—characteristics that also differentiate between neighborhoods. Researchers are using data that describe more than 20,000 U.S. adolescents (1995 and 1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), including the geographic coordinates of their residence, to determine the influence of environmental factors on activity and weight. These factors include pollution, transportation options, road safety, and access to recreational facilities. A substudy is measuring the spatial association among the respondents’ data to explore whether the outdoor activity of neighborhood peers affects the likelihood of being active. The research uses datasets from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation as well.

 

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