Associations between food environment around schools and professionally measured weight status for middle and high school students.

BACKGROUND: Obesity rates among school-age children remain high. Access to energy-dense foods at home, in schools, in stores, and restaurants around homes and schools is of concern. Research on the relationship between food environment around schools and students' weight status is inconclusive. This study examines the association between weight status of middle and high school students and proximity to a comprehensive set of food outlets around schools. METHODS: Deidentified nurse-measured heights and weights data were obtained for 12,954 middle and high school students attending 33 public schools in four low-income communities in New Jersey. Geocoded locations of supermarkets, convenience stores, small grocery stores, and limited-service restaurants were obtained from commercial sources. Random-effect regression models with robust standard errors were developed to adjust for unequal variances across schools and clustering of students within schools. RESULTS: Proximity to small grocery stores that offered some healthy options (e.g., five fruits, five vegetables, and low-fat/skim milk) and supermarkets was associated with healthier student weight status. Having a small grocery store within 0.25 mile of school and an additional such store within that radius was associated with a lower BMI z-score (p<0.05). An additional supermarket within 0.25 mile of schools was associated with a lower probability of being overweight/obese (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Improving access to healthy food outlets, such as small stores, that offer healthy food options and supermarkets around middle and high schools is a potential strategy for improving weight outcomes among students.

Neighborhood perceptions and active school commuting in low-income cities.

BACKGROUND: Few children accumulate the recommended ≥60 minutes of physical activity each day. Active travel to and from school (ATS) is a potential source of increased activity for children, accounting for 22% of total trips and time spent traveling by school-aged children. PURPOSE: This study identifies the association of parents' perceptions of the neighborhood, geospatial variables, and demographic characteristics with ATS among students in four low-income, densely populated urban communities with predominantly minority populations. METHODS: Data were collected in 2009-2010 from households with school-attending children in four low-income New Jersey cities. Multivariate logistic regression analyses (n=765) identified predictors of ATS. Analyses were conducted in 2012. RESULTS: In all, 54% of students actively commuted to school. Students whose parents perceived the neighborhood as very unpleasant for activity were less likely (OR=0.39) to actively commute, as were students living farther from school, with a 6% reduction in ATS for every 0.10 mile increase in distance to school. Perceptions of crime, traffic, and sidewalk conditions were not predictors of ATS. CONCLUSIONS: Parents' perceptions of the pleasantness of the neighborhood, independent of the effects of distance from school, may outweigh concerns about crime, traffic, or conditions of sidewalks in predicting active commuting to school in the low-income urban communities studied. Efforts such as cleaning up graffiti, taking care of abandoned buildings, and providing shade trees to improve neighborhood environments are likely to increase ATS, as are efforts that encourage locating schools closer to the populations they serve.