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Direct and Indirect Associations Between the Built Environment and Leisure and Utilitarian Walking in Older Women

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

The built environment predicts walking in older adults, but the degree to which associations between the objective built environment and walking for different purposes are mediated by environmental perceptions is unknown.

Purpose

We examined associations between the neighborhood built environment and leisure and utilitarian walking and mediation by the perceived environment among older women.

Methods

Women (N = 2732, M age = 72.8 ± 6.8 years) from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California completed a neighborhood built environment and walking survey. Objective population and intersection density and density of stores and services variables were created within residential buffers. Perceived built environment variables included measures of land use mix, street connectivity, infrastructure for walking, esthetics, traffic safety, and personal safety. Regression and bootstrapping were used to test associations and indirect effects.

Results

Objective population, stores/services, and intersection density indirectly predicted leisure and utilitarian walking via perceived land use mix (odds ratios (ORs) = 1.01–1.08, 95 % bias corrected and accelerated confidence intervals do not include 1). Objective density of stores/services directly predicted ≥150 min utilitarian walking (OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.22). Perceived land use mix (ORs = 1.16–1.44) and esthetics (ORs = 1.24–1.61) significantly predicted leisure and utilitarian walking,

Conclusions

Perceived built environment mediated associations between objective built environment variables and walking for leisure and utilitarian purposes. Interventions for older adults should take into account how objective built environment characteristics may influence environmental perceptions and walking.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    Philip J. Troped PhD

  2. Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Kosuke Tamura PhD

  3. Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Meghan H. McDonough PhD

  4. Department of Kinesiology, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA

    Heather A. Starnes PhD

  5. Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Peter James ScD & Francine Laden ScD

  6. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Peter James ScD & Francine Laden ScD

  7. Department of Urban Studies and Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Eran Ben-Joseph PhD

  8. Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA

    Ellen Cromley PhD

  9. Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, USA

    Robin Puett PhD

  10. Drexel University, Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Steven J. Melly MA, MS

Authors
  1. Philip J. Troped PhD
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  2. Kosuke Tamura PhD
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  5. Peter James ScD
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  6. Eran Ben-Joseph PhD
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  7. Ellen Cromley PhD
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  9. Steven J. Melly MA, MS
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  10. Francine Laden ScD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philip J. Troped PhD.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health; grants 5R21CA125078 and UM1CA18610.

Conflict of Interest

Philip J. Troped, Kosuke Tamura, Meghan H. McDonough, Heather A. Starnes, Peter James, Eran Ben-Joseph, Ellen Cromley, Robin Puett, Steven J. Melly, and Francine Laden declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Troped, P.J., Tamura, K., McDonough, M.H. et al. Direct and Indirect Associations Between the Built Environment and Leisure and Utilitarian Walking in Older Women. ann. behav. med. 51, 282–291 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9852-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9852-2

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