Environmental and psychosocial correlates of physical activity in Portuguese and Belgian adults

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate differences in reported physical activity levels and in perceived environmental and psychosocial correlates of activity between Portuguese and Belgian adults; and to analyse the relative contribution of environmental and psychosocial variables in explaining physical activity within different contexts in Portugal and Belgium. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: One city in Portugal (Oeiras) and one in Belgium (Ghent). Subjects: In total 526 participants, 247 from Portugal and 279 from Belgium, completed the long International Physical Activity Questionnaire and a validated questionnaire on environmental and psychosocial correlates. Results: For the sum of all activities of at least moderate intensity, a significantly higher mean level of activity was found in Belgian adults (P , 0.001). However, comparable percentages of the Belgian (38%) and Portuguese (42%) samples did not meet the recommendation of 30 min per day. The variance explained by environmental factors was lower (1% to 8%) than by psychosocial factors (maximum 42%). Regression analyses showed activity-specific relations with environmental variables which were analogous in both countries. Walking/cycling for transportation and walking for recreation were related to social support from family and/or friends and to walkability and walking facilities in the neighbourhood. Recreational physical activity was mainly determined by social support, self-efficacy, and perceived benefits and barriers. Conclusions: Activity campaigns addressing psychosocial determinants are needed to encourage leisure-time activity, while a combination of neighbourhood design changes and encouragement of social support in walking is warranted to increase walking in different contexts.

Home and Work Physical Activity Environments: Associations with Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Physical Activity Level in French Women

“…Previous studies have documented (in adults) associations between the availability of PA/sporting equipment at home and usual PA—either self-reported [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15] or recorded by accelerometry [14]—in general agreement with our findings. Interestingly, several studies using PA questionnaires showed associations between home PA equipment and self-reported vigorous leisure PA [9,14], a type of PA more likely to be associated with increased CRF than light or moderate-intensity PA.…”

“…Studies in adults are much fewer than in youth [6]. Based on self-reported PA, summary scores of home PA equipment were found to be associated with the adoption or practice of PA in American [7,8,9,10,11,12], Belgian [13,14], and Japanese [15] adults. Similar associations were found with accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous PA in one study [14], but not another [9].…”

The short international physical activity questionnaire: cross-cultural adaptation, validation and reliability of the Hausa language version in Nigeria

“…Misunderstanding of the transportation domain item may be attributed to the distinct infrastructural pattern and transportation habit of the African population. Unlike in many countries in North America, Australia and Europe where leisure time physical activity and recreational walking are prevalent [9,25-27], walking is not traditionally associated with recreation in African societies. Active walking may even be erroneously perceived as a sign of being socioeconomically disadvantaged among the urban African elites.…”

Perceived neighbourhood environmental attributes associated with adults׳ recreational walking: IPEN Adult study in 12 countries

“…An increasing number of studies have examined associations of neighbourhood environmental attributes with physical activity (e.g., walking for recreation and for transport), and the findings have been synthesized in review papers (Ding and Gebel, 2012; Owen et al, 2004; Saelens and Handy, 2008; Sugiyama et al, 2012). To date, most studies on this topic have examined data collected in a single country, except for a few multi-country studies (De Bourdeaudhuij et al, 2005; Sallis et al, 2009; Van Dyck et al, 2013). It is possible that non-significant or weak associations reported in single-country studies may be due partly to limited variation in environmental attributes.…”