Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N1N4, Canada.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Aug 1;9:92. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-92.
Walking in neighborhood environments is undertaken for different purposes including for transportation and leisure. We examined whether sidewalk availability was associated with participation in, and minutes of neighborhood-based walking for transportation (NWT) and recreation (NWR) after controlling for neighborhood self-selection.
Baseline survey data from respondents (n = 1813) who participated in the RESIDential Environment (RESIDE) project (Perth, Western Australia) were used. Respondents were recruited based on their plans to move to another neighborhood in the following year. Usual weekly neighborhood-based walking, residential preferences, walking attitudes, and demographics were measured. Characteristics of the respondent's baseline neighborhood were measured including transportation-related walkability and sidewalk length. A Heckman two-stage modeling approach (multivariate Probit regression for walking participation, followed by a sample selection-bias corrected OLS regression for walking minutes) estimated the relative contribution of sidewalk length to NWT and NWR.
After adjustment, neighborhood sidewalk length and walkability were positively associated with a 2.97 and 2.16 percentage point increase in the probability of NWT participation, respectively. For each 10 km increase in sidewalk length, NWT increased by 5.38 min/wk and overall neighborhood-based walking increased by 5.26 min/wk. Neighborhood walkability was not associated with NWT or NWR minutes. Moreover, sidewalk length was not associated with NWR minutes.
Sidewalk availability in established neighborhoods may be differentially associated with walking for different purposes. Our findings suggest that large investments in sidewalk construction alone would yield small increases in walking.
人们在社区环境中行走是出于不同的目的，包括交通出行和休闲娱乐。本研究旨在控制社区的自我选择后，调查人行道的可用性是否与交通出行（NWT）和休闲娱乐（NWR）相关的社区步行参与和步行分钟数有关。
本研究使用了参与 RESIDential Environment (RESIDE) 项目（西澳大利亚州珀斯）的受访者（n=1813）的基线调查数据。这些受访者是根据他们在未来一年内计划搬到另一个社区而被招募的。研究测量了受访者的每周常规社区步行活动、居住偏好、步行态度和人口统计学特征。还测量了受访者基线社区的特征，包括交通相关的步行便捷性和人行道长度。采用 Heckman 两阶段模型（多变量 Probit 回归用于行走参与度，然后是经过样本选择偏差校正的 OLS 回归用于行走分钟数）估计人行道长度对 NWT 和 NWR 的相对贡献。
调整后，社区人行道长度和步行便捷性与 NWT 参与率分别增加了 2.97 和 2.16 个百分点呈正相关。人行道长度每增加 10 公里，NWT 增加 5.38 分钟/周，整体社区步行增加 5.26 分钟/周。社区步行便捷性与 NWT 或 NWR 分钟数无关。此外，人行道长度与 NWR 分钟数无关。
成熟社区的人行道可用性可能与不同目的的步行有不同的关联。我们的研究结果表明，仅大规模投资建设人行道，步行量的增加幅度可能较小。
