 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mark Braza, MA, Formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency, In care of Anne Seeley, P.O. Box 942732, MS 675, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320, Wendy E. Shoemaker, MS, PsyD, California Project LEAN, California Department of Health Services, PO Box 942732, MS 675, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320, and Anne Seeley, BA, Physical Activity and Health Initiative, Active Community Environments, California Department of Health Services, P.O. Box 942732, MS 725, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320, (916) 445-0472, aseeley@dhs.ca.gov.
Purpose: This study evaluates the effect of school demographics and neighborhood design on children’s rates of walking/biking to school. It also presents a simple methodology that public health officials, education administrators, and urban planners can replicate to estimate the impact of development decisions on children’s mobility in their communities. Design: A cross-sectional study of elementary schools and their surrounding neighborhoods was employed. Setting and Subjects: Thirty-five (23%) of 150 California public elementary schools holding the October 1999 Walk to School Day participated in the study. Measures: Teachers asked fifth-grade students how they arrived to school one week before Walk to School Day. Population/housing unit density, street network connectivity, and school size measured neighborhood design; student ethnicity and welfare eligibility measured school demographics. Results: In bi-variate tests, population density (t = 3.31), housing unit density (t = 4.51), and percentage of Caucasian students (t = 3.39) showed statistically significant relationships with walking/biking rates (p<.05). In multi-variate tests, percentage of welfare-eligible students was also significantly related (p<.05). Conclusions: Population and housing unit density remain significantly related to walking/biking when controlling for ethnicity and income status, suggesting that neighborhood design affects walking/biking independent of demographic factors. Because this sample is small and self-selected, results must be generalized with caution and statistical tests had low power to detect all potential relationships.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environment, Physical Activity
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment