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The Relationship Between the Social Environment and Lifestyle-Related Physical Activity in a Low-Income African American Inner-City Southern Neighborhood

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Abstract

The social ecological model was used to examine individual, interpersonal, and neighborhood characteristics related to lifestyle-related physical activity (PA) in a low-income African American (AA) population in New Orleans, Louisiana. Interviewers administered surveys to randomly-sampled household participants from three low-income, AA neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana. Questions included the social and physical environment, physical activity, interpersonal factors, demographics, height and weight. Logistic regression multivariable models were built predicting whether the respondent met PA guidelines, controlling for neighborhood. Females were less as likely to engage in lifestyle-related PA compared to males (OR 0.46, CI 0.30–0.70). Support specific for PA was correlated with engaging in lifestyle-related PA (OR 1.45, CI 1.14–1.83). The individual and social environment should be considered for increasing PA in AA. Interventions targeting the AA population could consider ways of enhancing social support for PA.

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Acknowledgments

This journal article is a product of a Prevention Research Center and was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number #1-U48-DP-000047 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this journal article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors thank the PACE steering committee for their dedicated time to the project.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Ethical standard

All study protocol and survey instrument were approved by the Institutional Review Board at Tulane University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St., Suite 2301, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Lori Andersen

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St., Suite 2000, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Jeanette Gustat

  3. Mary Ann and J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program, Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, 225 E. Chicago Avenue, Box 157, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Adam B. Becker

Authors
  1. Lori Andersen
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  2. Jeanette Gustat
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  3. Adam B. Becker
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Correspondence to Lori Andersen.

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Andersen, L., Gustat, J. & Becker, A.B. The Relationship Between the Social Environment and Lifestyle-Related Physical Activity in a Low-Income African American Inner-City Southern Neighborhood. J Community Health 40, 967–974 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0019-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0019-z

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