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Associations of Residential Density with Adolescents’ Physical Activity in a Rapidly Urbanizing Area of Mainland China

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Abstract

In the context of recent social and economic transitions in China, lack of physical activity among adolescents is an emerging health risk, particularly so in rapidly expanding urban areas. Evidence from Western countries suggests that built environment attributes can influence the physical activity participation of young people, but whether or not this is the case for China is unknown. We recruited high school students from ten urban districts in Nanjing, Mainland China (n = 2,375; mean age = 13.9 ± 1.0 years old; 46% boys; survey response rate = 89%). The outcome variable was self-reported recreational physical activity time; the primary explanatory variable was the residential density of the urban districts. Analysis was conducted using mixed-effects logistic regression models. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, including sedentary behavior and green space, there was a consistent and graduated association between residential density and physical activity; residential density was significantly negatively associated with recreational physical activity time for students from the higher tertile of residential density (OR; 95% CI = 0.64; 0.42 to 0.97) compared to those from the lower tertile. The direction and magnitude of the negative association between residential density and physical activity was similar for boys and girls. It should be a public health priority to identify the particular urban environment attributes that can encourage and support young people’s participation in physical activity.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Nanjing Municipal Department of Health (2004-84-ZKX0418) and Nanjing Municipal Department of Science and Technology (2004-168-0414). Our special thanks go to the schools and investigators for their support of the study. Our thanks go to Elisabeth Winkler, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Australia, for her helpful suggestions on data analysis, and Mr. Wenjin Geng, Nanjing Municipal Department of Health, China, for his kind help in collecting information on green space in Nanjing.

Owen and Sugiyama are supported by a Program Grant (# 301200) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, and by a Research Infrastructure Grant from Queensland Health, Australia. Leslie is supported by an NHMRC Public Health Fellowship (#301261).

This paper was presented, in part, as an oral presentation at The 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine on August 27–30 of 2008 in Tokyo, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2, Zizhulin, Nanjing, 210003, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Xu, JieQuan Li, YaQiong Liang, ZhiYong Wang & Xin Hong

  2. Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Eva Leslie

  3. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Robert S. Ware, Takemi Sugiyama & Neville Owen

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  1. Fei Xu
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  2. JieQuan Li
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  8. Takemi Sugiyama
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  9. Neville Owen
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Correspondence to Fei Xu.

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Xu, F., Li, J., Liang, Y. et al. Associations of Residential Density with Adolescents’ Physical Activity in a Rapidly Urbanizing Area of Mainland China. J Urban Health 87, 44–53 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-009-9409-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-009-9409-9

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