Abt Associates Inc., US Health, 4550 Montgomery Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814, United States.
Marquette University, College of Business and Graduate School of Management, Department of Economics, 606 N. 13th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53201, United States.
Econ Hum Biol. 2014 Jan;12:98-109. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2013.05.003. Epub 2013 May 22.
This study utilizes a natural experiment-conditionally random dormitory assignments of first-year US college students-to investigate the influence of obesogenic environmental factors in explaining changes in weight and exercise behavior during the 2009-2010 academic year. The design addresses potential selection biases resulting from the likelihood that individuals sort into built environments that match their preferences for exercise and healthy eating. We find some evidence that the food environment, specifically access to campus dining, significantly affected the weight of female students in our study. Females assigned to dormitories where the nearest campus dining hall was closed on the weekends gained about 1lb less over the course of the year than females assigned to dormitories near dining halls that were open 7 days a week. We also find some evidence that female who lived in close proximity to a grocery store gained less weight over the course of the year. Finally, females who lived closer to campus gym reported more frequent exercise over the course of the year. We do not find significant effects of the built environment on weight changes of males in our sample, but we are cautious to draw strong conclusions from this because the male weight change in our sample was quite small.
本研究利用自然实验——美国大一学生有条件随机分配宿舍——来探讨肥胖环境因素在解释 2009-2010 学年期间体重和锻炼行为变化中的影响。该设计解决了由于个体倾向于选择与其锻炼和健康饮食偏好相匹配的居住环境而导致的潜在选择偏差。我们发现一些证据表明，食物环境，特别是校园餐饮的可及性，显著影响了我们研究中女性学生的体重。与分配到周末关闭的最近校园食堂的宿舍的女性相比，分配到 7 天营业的食堂附近宿舍的女性在这一年中体重增加了约 1 磅。我们还发现一些证据表明，居住在杂货店附近的女性在这一年中体重增加较少。最后，居住在校园健身房附近的女性在这一年中报告了更频繁的锻炼。我们在样本中没有发现环境因素对男性体重变化的显著影响，但我们谨慎地从这一点得出强有力的结论，因为我们样本中男性体重的变化非常小。
