Social and environmental determinants of physical activity in urban parks: Testing a neighborhood disorder model.
Prev Med
; 109: 119-124, 2018 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29366818
ABSTRACT
The current study examined the nexus of neighborhood disorder-in the form of physical disorder (e.g., broken glass and vandalism) and social disorder (e.g., public drinking and lewd conduct)-and physical activity (PA) in urban public parks to inform public policy addressing chronic disease in at-risk populations. Five hundred and twenty-two unique observations were conducted in 22 public parks from March to September 2016. The study utilized the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) to document age, gender, ethnicity, and PA level of park users. The Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA) was used to document observed physical and social disorder incivilities in public parks included in the current study. Males, adults, and Latina/os accounted for the largest number of park users, respectively. Significant PA differences were observed across gender, age, and ethnicity. Multiple linear regression controlling for gender, age, and ethnicity found physical disorder, but not social disorder, generally predicted PA reductions. While it has been demonstrated that physical disorder predicts PA reductions in low-income communities of color, this is the first study to reveal that physical disorder may lead to decreased PA in urban public parks. Thus, remediation of public park incivilities characterized by physical disorder, paired with community outreach, may lead to increased PA in at-risk communities.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Recreation
/
Socioeconomic Factors
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Exercise
/
Social Determinants of Health
/
Parks, Recreational
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
Limits:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Prev Med
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article