What can I do and what can I eat? Findings from the Physical Activity and Media Inventory (PAMI) and Home Food Inventory (HFI) in African American girls' home environments

Introduction: Underlying causes for overweight/obesity are a complex interplay of individual, behavioral, social, and environmental factors related to physical activity (PA) and diet, though less research has been conducted on environmental dynamics. As African-American girls experience high rates of overweight than other youth and are more likely to live in environments that may inhibit healthy lifestyles, there is an urgent need to better understand the home environment for this population.

Methods: The home environments of 19 African American adolescent girls ages 11-18 were assessed using the Physical Activity and Media Inventory (PAMI) and Home Food Inventory (HFI). Accompanied by an adult, trained research assistants inventoried each room (with special focus on the kitchen) and open space (i.e., garage, front/back yard) for physical activity, media, and food resources. SAS software will be used to generate descriptive statistics to describe the physical contents of the home environments.

Results: Results for this study are currently unavailable, but will be available by end of June 2011.

Conclusions: Knowing what physical resources are available in the physical activity and food environments of African American girls can be used as an intervention method to address the high rates of overweight/obesity in this population.