Comparing objective measures of the built environment in their associations with youth physical activity and sedentary behavior across heterogeneous geographies. (January 2018) - Poulsen, Melissa N.
Abstract: We compared two strategies for measuring built environment features in their associations with youth physical activity and sedentary behavior across heterogeneous geographies of Pennsylvania. Physical activity environments of communities representing a rural-to-urban gradient were characterized through direct observation and spatially referenced archival data subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Stratified regression analyses assessed associations between environmental measures and behavioral outcomes by community type. Neither strategy was consistently associated with behavior across communities. Findings highlight the importance of differentiating community type in evaluating associations of the built environment, and the challenge of measuring meaningful differences that influence youth behavior across heterogeneous geographies. Highlights: Community features influence youth behavior, requiring evaluation of diverse places. We compared two strategies for measuring built environments across diverse places. Both measurement strategies captured differences in environmental features. Neither was consistently associated with physical activity or sedentary behavior. The study of diverse geographies poses methodological challenges.