Masters of Public Policy Program, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2011 Dec 20;8:139. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-8-139.
Interest is growing in physical activity-friendly community designs, but few tests exist of communities explicitly designed to be walkable. We test whether students living in a new urbanist community that is also a pilot LEED_ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Neighborhood Development) community have greater accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across particular time periods compared to students from other communities. We test various time/place periods to see if the data best conform to one of three explanations for MVPA. Environmental effects suggest that MVPA occurs when individuals are exposed to activity-friendly settings; selection effects suggest that walkable community residents prefer MVPA, which leads to both their choice of a walkable community and their high levels of MVPA; catalyst effects occur when walking to school creates more MVPA, beyond the school commute, on schooldays but not weekends.
Fifth graders (n = 187) were sampled from two schools representing three communities: (1) a walkable community, Daybreak, designed with new urbanist and LEED-ND pilot design standards; (2) a mixed community (where students lived in a less walkable community but attended the walkable school so that part of the route to school was walkable), and (3) a less walkable community. Selection threats were addressed through controlling for parental preferences for their child to walk to school as well as comparing in-school MVPA for the walkable and mixed groups.
Minutes of MVPA were tested with 3 × 2 (Community by Gender) analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs). Community walkability related to more MVPA during the half hour before and after school and, among boys only, more MVPA after school. Boys were more active than girls, except during the half hour after school. Students from the mixed and walkable communities--who attended the same school--had similar in-school MVPA levels, and community groups did not differ in weekend MVPA, providing little evidence of selection effects.
Even after our controls for selection effects, we find evidence of environmental effects on MVPA. These results suggest that walkable community design, according to new urbanist and LEED_ND pilot design standards, is related to higher MVPA among students at certain times.
人们对有利于身体活动的社区设计越来越感兴趣，但很少有专门设计为可步行的社区的测试。我们测试了生活在一个新城市主义社区的学生，该社区也是 LEED_ND（能源与环境设计领导力-社区发展）的试点社区，他们在特定时间段内的计步器测量的中等到剧烈的身体活动（MVPA）是否比来自其他社区的学生更大。我们测试了各种时间/地点时段，以确定数据最符合 MVPA 的三种解释中的哪一种。环境影响表明，当个人暴露于有利于活动的环境中时，MVPA 就会发生；选择效应表明，可步行社区的居民更喜欢 MVPA，这导致他们选择可步行社区和高 MVPA；催化剂效应发生在步行上学时，除了上学通勤之外，在上学日会产生更多的 MVPA，但在周末则不会。
从两所代表三个社区的学校抽取五年级学生（n = 187）：（1）一个可步行的社区，黎明，采用新城市主义和 LEED-ND 试点设计标准设计；（2）一个混合社区（学生居住在一个不太适合步行的社区，但就读于可步行的学校，因此上学路线的一部分是可步行的）；（3）一个不太适合步行的社区。通过控制父母让孩子步行上学的偏好，并比较可步行和混合组的校内 MVPA，来解决选择威胁。
使用社区与性别 3×2（Community by Gender）协方差分析（ANCOVA）测试 MVPA 分钟数。社区的可步行性与上学前半小时和放学后半小时的 MVPA 相关，仅在男孩中，放学后的 MVPA 更多。男孩比女孩更活跃，除了放学后半小时。来自混合社区和可步行社区的学生——他们就读于同一所学校——在学校内的 MVPA 水平相似，且社区群体在周末的 MVPA 没有差异，这表明选择效应的证据很少。
即使在控制了选择效应之后，我们也发现了环境对 MVPA 的影响的证据。这些结果表明，根据新城市主义和 LEED_ND 试点设计标准，可步行社区的设计与学生在某些时间的更高 MVPA 有关。
