Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2021 Jun 4;9:634751. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.634751. eCollection 2021.
Walking has the potential to promote health across the life span, but age-specific features of the neighborhood environment (NE), especially in rural communities, linked with walking have not been adequately characterized. This study examines the relationships between NE and utilitarian walking among older vs. younger adults living in US rural towns. Data for this cross-sectional study came from telephone interviews in 2011-2012 with 2,140 randomly sampled younger (18-64 years, = 1,398) and older (65+ years, = 742) adults, collecting personal and NE perception variables. NE around each participant's home was also measured objectively using geographic information system techniques. Separate mixed-effects logistic regression models were estimated for the two age groups, predicting the odds of utilitarian walking at least once a week. Perceived presence of crosswalks and pedestrian signals was significantly related to utilitarian walking in both age groups. Among older adults, unattended dogs, lighting at night, and religious institutions were positively while steep slope was negatively associated with their walking. For younger adults, traffic speed (negative, -), public transportation (positive, +), malls (-), cultural/recreational destinations (+), schools (+), and resource production land uses such as farms and mines (-) were significant correlates of utilitarian walking. Different characteristics of NE are associated with utilitarian walking among younger vs. older adults in US rural towns. Optimal modifications of NE to promote walking may need to reflect these age differences.
步行有可能促进整个生命周期的健康，但与步行相关的特定年龄的邻里环境（NE）特征，尤其是在农村社区，尚未得到充分描述。本研究考察了美国农村城镇中老年人和年轻人的 NE 与功利性步行之间的关系。本横断面研究的数据来自于 2011 年至 2012 年对 2140 名随机抽样的年轻（18-64 岁，n=1398）和年长（65 岁以上，n=742）成年人进行的电话访谈，收集个人和 NE 感知变量。还使用地理信息系统技术对每个参与者家周围的 NE 进行了客观测量。针对两个年龄组分别估计了混合效应逻辑回归模型，预测每周至少进行一次功利性步行的可能性。在两个年龄组中，感知到的人行横道和行人信号灯的存在与功利性步行显著相关。在老年人中，无人看管的狗、夜间照明和宗教机构与他们的步行呈正相关，而陡峭的坡度则与之呈负相关。对于年轻人，交通速度（负，-）、公共交通（正，+）、购物中心（-）、文化/娱乐目的地（+）、学校（+）以及资源生产用地（如农场和矿山）（-）与功利性步行显著相关。美国农村城镇中，年轻和年长成年人的 NE 特征不同，与功利性步行相关。为促进步行，需要对 NE 进行最佳的修改，以反映这些年龄差异。
