Abstract
Research suggests a linkage between perceptions of neighborhood quality and the likelihood of engaging in leisure-time physical activity. Often in these studies, intra-neighborhood variance is viewed as something to be controlled for statistically. However, we hypothesized that intra-neighborhood variance in perceptions of neighborhood quality may be contextually relevant. We examined the relationship between intra-neighborhood variance of subjective neighborhood quality and neighborhood-level reported physical inactivity across 48 neighborhoods within a medium-sized city, Texas City, Texas using survey data from 2706 residents collected between 2004 and 2006. Neighborhoods where the aggregated perception of neighborhood quality was poor also had a larger proportion of residents reporting being physically inactive. However, higher degrees of disagreement among residents within neighborhoods about their neighborhood quality was significantly associated with a lower proportion of residents reporting being physically inactive (p = 0.001). Our results suggest that intra-neighborhood variability may be contextually relevant in studies seeking to better understand the relationship between neighborhood quality and behaviors sensitive to neighborhood environments, like physical activity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 336-341 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Preventive Medicine |
Volume | 111 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Environment
- Exercise
- Healthy neighborhoods
- Median absolute deviation
- Neighborhood
- Physical activity
- Physical inactivity
- Subjective neighborhood assessment
- Urban health
- Variability
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health