Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
Built environment features, including parks, often exacerbate health disparities. We examined built environment perceptions and park use among a population at high risk for physical health outcomes: racially diverse, low-income mothers across the United States. Perceived safety from crime and living near a park were associated with more frequent park use for mothers and their children, and neighborhood walkability was linked to longer park visits. However, only 40% of mothers lived within a ten-minute walk from a park, and perceptions of walkability and safety from crime were low. To enhance physical activity and health of low-income mothers and their children, investments are needed to close disparities in park access and improve neighborhood safety.
References
Adkins, A., Barillas-Longoria, G., Martínez, D. N., & Ingram, M. (2019). Differences in social and physical dimensions of perceived walkability in Mexican American and non-Hispanic White walking environments in Tucson, Arizona. Journal of Transport & Health, 14. doi: 10.1016/j.jth.2019.100585
Bancroft, C., Joshi, S., Rundle, A., Hutson, M., Chong, C., Weiss, C. C., Genkinger, J., Neckerman, K., & Lovasi, G. (2015). Association of proximity and density of parks and objectively measured physical activity in the United States: A systematic review. Social science & medicine, 138, 22–30. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.034
Boas, T. C., Christenson, D. P., & Glick, D. M. (2020). Recruiting large online samples in the United States and India: Facebook, Mechanical Turk, and Qualtrics. Political Science Research and Methods, 8(2), 232–250.
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. Guilford. https://www.guilford.com/books/Confirmatory-Factor-Analysis-for-Applied-Research/Timothy-Brown/9781462515363
Carr, L. J., Dunsiger, S. I., & Marcus, B. H. (2010). Walk score™ as a global estimate of neighborhood walkability. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(5), 460–463.
Casagrande, S. S., Whitt-Glover, M. C., Lancaster, K. J., Odoms-Young, A. M., & Gary, T. L. (2009). Built environment and health behaviors among African Americans: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(2), 174–181.
Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2020). Race and economic opportunity in the United States: An intergenerational perspective. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 135(2), 711–783.
Chudyk, A. M., McKay, H. A., Winters, M., Sims-Gould, J., & Ashe, M. C. (2017). Neighborhood walkability, physical activity, and walking for transportation: A cross-sectional study of older adults living on low income. BMC Geriatrics, 17(1), 1–14.
Cohen, D. A., Han, B., Derose, K. P., Williamson, S., Marsh, T., Rudick, J., & McKenzie, T. L. (2012). Neighborhood poverty, park use, and park-based physical activity in a southern California city. Social Science & Medicine, 75(12), 2317–2325
Cohen, D. A., Han, B., Isacoff, J., Shulaker, B., Williamson, S., Marsh, T., McKenzie, T. L., Weir, M., & Bhatia, R. (2015). Impact of park renovations on park use and park-based physical activity. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 12(2), 289–295. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2013-0165
Cutts, B. B., Darby, K. J., Boone, C. G., & Brewis, A. (2009). City structure, obesity, and environmental justice: An integrated analysis of physical and social barriers to walkable streets and park access. Social Science & Medicine, 69(9), 1314–1322.
Derose, K. P., Han, B., Williamson, S., & Cohen, D. A. (2018). Gender disparities in park use and physical activity among residents of high-poverty neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Women's Health Issues, 28(1), 6–13.
Downing, K. L., Best, K., Campbell, K. J., & Hesketh, K. D. (2016). Informing active play and screen time behaviour change interventions for low socioeconomic position mothers of young children: What do mothers want? BioMed Research International. doi: 10.1155/2016/2139782
Fields, R., Kaczynski, A. T., Bopp, M., & Fallon, E. (2013). Built environment associations with health behaviors among Hispanics. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 10(3), 335–342.
Flowers, E. P., Timperio, A., Hesketh, K. D., & Veitch, J. (2020). Comparing the features of parks that children usually visit with those that are closest to home: A brief report. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 48. doi: 10.1016/j.ufug.2019.126560
French, S. A., Sherwood, N. E., Mitchell, N. R., & Fan, Y. (2017). Park use is associated with less sedentary time among low-income parents and their preschool child: The NET-Works study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 5, 7–12.
Geverdt, D. (2018). Education demographic and geographic estimates program: Locale boundaries file documentation 2017 (Report No. NCES 2018-115). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
Greer, A. E., Castrogivanni, B., & Marcello, R. (2017). Park use and physical activity among mostly low-to-middle income, minority parents and their children. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 14(2), 83–87.
Hesketh, K. R., Goodfellow, L., Ekelund, U., McMinn, A. M., Godfrey, K. M., Inskip, H. M., Cooper, C., Harvey, N. C., & van Sluijs, E. M. (2014). Activity levels in mothers and their preschool children. Pediatrics, 133(4), e973–e980. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-3153
Hnatiuk, J. A., DeDecker, E., Hesketh, K. D., & Cardon, G. (2017). Maternal-child co-participation in physical activity-related behaviours: Prevalence and cross-sectional associations with mothers and children’s objectively assessed physical activity levels. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 506.
Huang, J. H., Hipp, J. A., Marquet, O., Alberico, C., Fry, D., Mazak, E., Lovasi, G. S., Robinson, W. R., & Floyd, M. F. (2020). Neighborhood characteristics associated with park use and park-based physical activity among children in low-income diverse neighborhoods in New York City. Preventive Medicine, 131, 1–12. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.105948
Hunter, R. F., Christian, H., Veitch, J., Astell-Burt, T., Hipp, J. A., & Schipperijn, J. (2015). The impact of interventions to promote physical activity in urban green space: A systematic review and recommendations for future research. Social Science & Medicine, 124, 246–256.
Johnson-Lawrence, V., Schulz, A. J., Zenk, S. N., Israel, B. A., Wineman, J., Marans, R. W., & Rowe, Z. (2015). Joint associations of residential density and neighborhood involvement with physical activity among a multiethnic sample of urban adults. Health Education & Behavior, 42(4), 510–517.
Koohsari, M. J., Kaczynski, A. T., Giles-Corti, B., & Karakiewicz, J. A. (2013). Effects of access to public open spaces on walking: Is proximity enough? Landscape and Urban Planning, 117, 92–99.
Lackey, K. J., & Kaczynski, A. T. (2009). Correspondence of perceived vs. objective proximity to parks and their relationship to park-based physical activity. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6(1), 1–9. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-6-53
Larson, L. R., Jennings, V., & Cloutier, S. A. (2016). Public parks and wellbeing in urban areas of the United States. PLoS One, 11(4), 1–19.
Lee, R. E., Mama, S. K., Adamus-Leach, H. J., & Soltero, E. G. (2015). Contribution of neighborhood income and access to quality physical activity resources to physical activity in ethnic minority women over time. American Journal of Health Promotion, 29(4), 210–216..
Mama, S. K., Diamond, P. M., McCurdy, S. A., Evans, A. E., McNeill, L. H., & Lee, R. E. (2015a). Individual, social and environmental correlates of physical activity in overweight and obese African American and Hispanic women: A structural equation model analysis. Preventive Medicine Reports, 2, 57–64.
Mama, S. K., McCurdy, S. A., Evans, A. E., Thompson, D. I., Diamond, P. M., & Lee, R. E. (2015b). Using community insight to understand physical activity adoption in overweight and obese African American and Hispanic women: A qualitative study. Health Education & Behavior, 42(3), 321–328.
Marquet, O., Hipp, J. A., Alberico, C., Huang, J. H., Fry, D., Mazak, E., Lovasi, G. S., & Floyd, M. F. (2019a). Park use preferences and physical activity among ethnic minority children in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 38, 346–353. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2019.01.018
Marquet, O., Hipp, J. A., Alberico, C., Huang, J. H., Fry, D., Mazak, E., Lovasi, G. S., & Floyd, M. F. (2019b). Short-term associations between objective crime, park-use, and park-based physical activity in low-income neighborhoods. Preventive Medicine, 126, 1–6. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.05.023
McCormack, G. R., Frehlich, L., Blackstaffe, A., Turin, T. C., & Doyle-Baker, P. K. (2020). Active and fit communities. Associations between neighborhood walkability and health-related fitness in adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4). doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041131
Millstein, R. A., Strobel, J., Kerr, J., Sallis, J. F., Norman, G. J., Durant, N., Harris, S., & Saelens, B. E. (2011). Home, school, and neighborhood environment factors and youth physical activity. Pediatric Exercise Science, 23(4), 487–503. doi: 10.1123/pes.23.4.487
Ogletree, S. S., Huang, J. H., Alberico, C., Marquet, O., Floyd, M. F., & Hipp, J. A. (2020). Parental preference for park attributes related to children’s use of parks in low-income, racial/ethnic diverse neighborhoods. Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living, 1(1), 6–15.
Parsons, A. A., Besenyi, G. M., Kaczynski, A. T., Wilhelm Stanis, S. A., Blake, C. E., & Barr-Anderson, D. J. (2015). Investigating issues of environmental injustice in neighborhoods surrounding parks. Journal of Leisure Research, 47(2), 285–303.
Penilla, C., Tschann, J. M., Sanchez-Vaznaugh, E. V., Flores, E., & Ozer, E. J. (2017). Obstacles to preventing obesity in children aged 2 to 5 years: Latino mothers’ and fathers’ experiences and perceptions of their urban environments. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 1–12. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0605-9
Petersen, T. L., Møller, L. B., Brønd, J. C., Jepsen, R., & Grøntved, A. (2020). Association between parent and child physical activity: A systematic review. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17, 1–16.
Razani, N., Morshed, S., Kohn, M. A., Wells, N. M., Thompson, D., Alqassari, M., Agodi, A., & Rutherford, G. W. (2018). Effect of park prescriptions with and without group visits to parks on stress reduction in low-income parents: SHINE randomized trial. PloS One, 13(2). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192921
Rhemtulla, M., Brosseau-Liard, P. É., & Savalei, V. (2012). When can categorical variables be treated as continuous? A comparison of robust continuous and categorical SEM estimation methods under suboptimal conditions. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 354. doi: 10.1037/a0029315
Rhodes, R. E., & Lim, C. (2018). Promoting parent and child physical activity together: Elicitation of potential intervention targets and preferences. Health Education & Behavior, 45(1), 112–123.
Ries, A. V., Voorhees, C. C., Roche, K. M., Gittelsohn, J., Yan, A. F., & Astone, N. M. (2009). A quantitative examination of park characteristics related to park use and physical activity among urban youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(3), S64–S70. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.04.020
Rigolon, A., Browning, M., & Jennings, V. (2018). Inequities in the quality of urban park systems: An environmental justice investigation of cities in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 178, 156–169.
Rosenberg, D., Ding, D., Sallis, J. F., Kerr, J., Norman, G. J., Durant, N., Harris, S. K., & Saelens, B. E. (2009). Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for Youth (NEWS-Y): reliability and relationship with physical activity. Preventive Medicine, 49(2-3), 213–218. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.07.011
Ruchkin, V., Jones, S., Vermeiren, R., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2008). The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: The self-report version in American urban and suburban youth. Psychological Assessment, 20(2), 175–182. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.20.2.175
Savalei, V. (2018). On the computation of the RMSEA and CFI from the mean-and-variance corrected test statistic with nonnormal data in SEM. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 53(3), 419–429.
Schultz, C. L., Wilhelm Stanis, S. A., Sayers, S. P., Thombs, L. A., & Thomas, I. M. (2017). A longitudinal examination of improved access on park use and physical activity in a low-income and majority African American neighborhood park. Preventive Medicine, 95, S95–S100.
Smith, M., Hosking, J., Woodward, A., Witten, K., MacMillan, A., Field, A., Baas, P., & Mackie, H. (2017). Systematic literature review of built environment effects on physical activity and active transport–An update and new findings on health equity. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 1–27. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0613-9
Stark, J. H., Neckerman, K., Lovasi, G. S., Quinn, J., Weiss, C. C., Bader, M. D., Knoty, K., Harris, T. G., & Rundle, A. (2014). The impact of neighborhood park access and quality on body mass index among adults in New York City. Preventive Medicine, 64, 63–68. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.03.026
Tavares, L. S., Plotnikoff, R. C., & Loucaides, C. (2009). Social-cognitive theories for predicting physical activity behaviours of employed women with and without young children. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 14(2), 129–142.
Van Dyck, D., Sallis, J. F., Cardon, G., Deforche, B., Adams, M. A., Geremia, C., & De Bourdeaudhuij, I. (2013). Associations of neighborhood characteristics with active park use: An observational study in two cities in the USA and Belgium. International Journal of Health Geographics, 12(1), 1–9.
Van Holle, V., Deforche, B., Van Cauwenberg, J., Goubert, L., Maes, L., Van de Weghe, N., & De Bourdeaudhuij, I. (2012). Relationship between the physical environment and different domains of physical activity in European adults: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 12(1), 1–17.
Vaughan, K. B., Kaczynski, A. T., Wilhelm Stanis, S. A., Besenyi, G. M., Bergstrom, R., & Heinrich, K. M. (2013). Exploring the distribution of park availability, features, and quality across Kansas City, Missouri by income and race/ethnicity: An environmental justice investigation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 45(suppl_1), S28–S38.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 Lauren E. Mullenbach, Lincoln Larson, Myron Floyd, Oriol Marquet, Jing-Huei Huang, Claudia Alberico, J. Aaron Hipp