Features of perceived neighborhood environment associated with daily walking time or habitual exercise: differences across gender, age, and employment status in a community–dwelling population of Japan

Abstract

Objective Perceived neighborhood environment (NE) is considered a determinant of daily physical activity (PA). However, evidence concerning differences among types of PA, gender, and age is limited. The study purpose was to clarify the association between NE and walking time (WT) or habitual exercise (HE) across gender, age, and employment status in a community-dwelling population of Japan. Methods A questionnaire mail survey with a stratified random 7,515 sampling was conducted in a northeast city in January 2007. Multiple logistic analysis was conducted to examine the associations between seven NE indices and WT or HE across gender, age, and employment status: 20-39 (young-employed), 40-59 (middle-employed), and 60-79 (old-employed or old-unemployed) after adjustment for age and means of transportation. Results A total of 3,806 residents (52.4 % females) completed the survey. Traffic and crime safety in oldunemployed males and proximity to service facilities and traffic and crime safety in middle-employed females were significantly associated with a low risk of insufficient WT. Proximity to service facilities in old-employed males, number of service facilities, places for walking, and good view in middle-employed females, and density of dwelling and proximity to service facilities in old-unemployed females were significantly associated with a low risk of non-HE. Conclusions The association between NE and WT or HE differed across type of PA, gender, age, and employment status, and was observed mainly in middle-and old-aged females. The middle-and old-aged female residents' PA possibly were more influenced by their NE, and NE would contribute to promote active living.

Built environmental correlates of older adults’ total physical activity and walking: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…All examined moderators of environment-PA associations were counted and summarised by the category of moderator tested. This included multiple factor (i.e., higher-order) moderating effects, tested formally (e.g., [ 59 ]) or not (e.g., [ 20 ]). Reporting higher-order moderating effects by moderator category resulted in findings being counted multiple times, i.e., once for each moderator category.…”

“…Reporting higher-order moderating effects by moderator category resulted in findings being counted multiple times, i.e., once for each moderator category. For example, Chen and colleagues reported sex by employment status interactions, so the findings were reported twice, once under sex and once under employment status as moderators [ 20 ]. For this reason, the total number of moderating effects reported in this review is greater than the number of moderating effects reported in the articles.…”

Perceived and Objective Measures of Neighborhood Walkability and Physical Activity among Adults in Japan: A Multilevel Analysis of a Nationally Representative Sample

“…To improve this generalizability and facilitate cross-national comparison, additional studies are therefore necessary beyond Western countries [ 12 , 13 ], particularly in Asian countries, where few studies have been reported. In Japan, researchers have recently reported on the association between perceived BE and PA [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], while a few others have objectively analyzed neighborhood environments in relation to PA [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Environmental Quality in Sports Facilities: Perception and Indoor Air Quality

“…In a perspective of occupational prevention and health promotion, the approach presented in this study was aimed to integrate both objective parameters related to IAQ assessment and subjective perception of the environmental quality and safety. Previous studies investigated sport facilities focusing on single issues such as only questionnaires, or microclimate (Soares, 2015), personal information (Eime, 2013;Chen, 2013;Reimers, 2014), aptitude playing sport (Coledam, 2014;Laxer, 2013). Here we considered an integrated approach, to evaluate a possible multiple strategy to assess environmental quality in sport environments.…”

“…Sports facilities are complex and heterogeneous buildings and they are unique in their kind, for energy consumption, used materials, comfort requirements (Revel, 2014). Moreover, performing sport in healthy environments strengthens motivation in addition to other factors such as age, sex, socio-economic conditions, school, food habits, plant accessibility (Sani, 2012;Eime, 2013;Chen, 2013;Reimers, 2014;Coledam, 2014;Adlakha, 2015;Laxer, 2013).…”