Background Increasingly the combination of GPS, GIS and accelerometry is being employed in research on physical activity and the environment. GPS has potential as an objective and accurate method of collecting data on journeys and places used that does not suffer some of the drawbacks of alternative methods. Several studies ...
Background Large changes in physical activity (PA) can be observed among teenagers. The majority of 11 year olds in Denmark do meet the recommend level of PA; the majority of 15 year olds do not. The chances of not meeting the recommended level of PA as adults are strongly correlated with not ...
Background The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests that what happens inside the classroom to help prepare children for success is of equal importance to what happens outside on the playground. Children between 1st and 6th grade, on average, spend more time per week in recess than PE or after school ...
Background Parks are an important attribute of the built environment and are known to be associated with psychological, social and physical health benefits, perhaps as a result of improved opportunities to engage in physical activity (PA). Parks may be more likely to influence PA if they are accessible and if ...
The influence of the family and home environment on childhood physical activity (PA) and whether this differs between ethnic groups remains uncertain. This paper investigates associations between family and home factors and childhood PA in a multi-ethnic population and explores whether associations differ between ethnic groups. Methods Cross-sectional study of 9...
Background Most public transit users walk to and from transit. We analyzed the relationship between transit commuting and objectively measured physical activity. Methods Adults aged 20 to 65 working outside the home (n = 1237) were randomly selected from neighborhoods in Seattle and Baltimore regions. Neighborhoods had high or low median income and high ...
Adequate daily physical activity (PA) is important for maintaining functional capacity and independence in older adults. However, most older adults in Canada do not engage in enough PA to sustain fitness and functional independence. Environmental influences, such as warmer daytime temperatures may influence PA participation; however, few studies have examined ...
Objective To compare the physical activity levels of overweight and non overweight 3- to 5-y-old children while attending preschool. A secondary aim was to evaluate weight-related differences in hypothesized parental determinants of child physical activity behavior. Design Cross-sectional study. Subjects A total of 245, 3- to 5-y-olds (127 girls, 118 boys) and their ...
Objective To compare the physical activity (PA) patterns and the hypothesized psychosocial and environmental determinants of PA in an ethnically diverse sample of obese and non-obese middle school children. Design Cross-sectional study. Subjects One-hundred and thirty-three non-obese and 54 obese sixth grade children (mean age of 11.4±0.6). Obesity status determined using the ...
Objectives This study evaluated a neighborhood environment survey and compared the physical activity and weight status of the residents in two neighborhoods. Methods On two occasions 107 adults from neighborhoods with differing walkability were selected to complete a survey on their neighborhood environment. Physical activity was assessed by self-report and by ...