IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v9y2012i9p3030-3050d19671.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of the Built Environment on Young People’s Physical Activity Patterns: A Suburban-Rural Comparison Using GPS

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Collins

    (School of Human Sciences, Newman University College, Genners Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3NT, UK)

  • Yahya Al-Nakeeb

    (School of Human Sciences, Newman University College, Genners Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3NT, UK)

  • Alan Nevill

    (School of Performing Arts and Leisure, University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus, Gorway Road, Walsall WS1 3BD, UK)

  • Mark Lyons

    (Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, IRL, Ireland)

Abstract

The built environment in which young people live has a significant influence on their physical activity (PA). However, little is known regarding how youth from suburban and rural settings utilise their surrounding environments to participate in free-living PA. 50 adolescents aged 13–14 years old (22 rural; 28 suburban) wore an integrated GPS and heart rate device during non-school hours and completed a daily PA diary over 7 days. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variance were used to explore differences in the amount and location of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) between genders and youth from different geographical settings. Suburban youth participated in significantly ( p = 0.004) more daily PA (52.14 minutes MVPA) and were more extensive in their utilisation of their surroundings, compared to rural youth (26.61 minutes MVPA). Suburban youth visited more public recreational facilities and spent significantly more time outdoors and on local streets (109.71 minutes and 44.62 minutes, respectively) compared to rural youth (55.98 minutes and 17.15 minutes, respectively) during weekdays. Rural youth on average spent significantly more time within the home (350.69 minutes) during weekends compared to suburban youth (214.82 minutes). Rural females were the least active group of adolescents, participating in the least amount of daily PA (20.14 minutes MVPA) and spending the least amount of time outdoors (31.37 minutes) during weekdays. Time spent outdoors was positively associated with PA. The findings highlight the disparity in PA levels and the utilisation of the surrounding built environment between youth from two different geographical settings and possible environmental causes are discussed. The study supports the use of GPS (combined with other methods) in investigating geographical differences in young people’s PA and movement patterns. This method provides a wealth of information that may assist future policies and interventions in identifying environmental characteristics that promote PA in youth from different geographical settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Collins & Yahya Al-Nakeeb & Alan Nevill & Mark Lyons, 2012. "The Impact of the Built Environment on Young People’s Physical Activity Patterns: A Suburban-Rural Comparison Using GPS," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:9:p:3030-3050:d:19671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/9/3030/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/9/3030/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mackett, Roger L. & Lucas, Lindsey & Paskins, James & Turbin, Jill, 2005. "The therapeutic value of children's everyday travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 205-219.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. James N. Roemmich & LuAnn Johnson & Grace Oberg & Joley E. Beeler & Kelsey E. Ufholz, 2018. "Youth and Adult Visitation and Physical Activity Intensity at Rural and Urban Parks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Anne Kelso & Anne K Reimers & Karim Abu-Omar & Kathrin Wunsch & Claudia Niessner & Hagen Wäsche & Yolanda Demetriou, 2021. "Locations of Physical Activity: Where Are Children, Adolescents, and Adults Physically Active? A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-35, January.
    3. Sara Pereira & Peter T. Katzmarzyk & Donald Hedeker & José Maia, 2018. "Profile Resemblance in Health-Related Markers: The Portuguese Sibling Study on Growth, Fitness, Lifestyle, and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Clemens Drenowatz & Franz Hinterkörner & Klaus Greier, 2020. "Physical Fitness in Upper Austrian Children Living in Urban and Rural Areas: A Cross-Sectional Analysis with More Than 18,000 Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zwerts, Enid & Allaert, Georges & Janssens, Davy & Wets, Geert & Witlox, Frank, 2010. "How children view their travel behaviour: a case study from Flanders (Belgium)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 702-710.
    2. Collins, Damian & Kearns, Robin A., 2010. "Walking school buses in the Auckland region: A longitudinal assessment," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 1-8, January.
    3. Fyhri, Aslak & Hjorthol, Randi & Mackett, Roger L. & Fotel, Trine Nordgaard & Kyttä, Marketta, 2011. "Children's active travel and independent mobility in four countries: Development, social contributing trends and measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 703-710, September.
    4. Yusak O. Susilo & Chengxi Liu, 2016. "The influence of parents’ travel patterns, perceptions and residential self-selectivity to their children travel mode shares," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 357-378, March.
    5. Laura E. Smith & Veronique Gosselin & Patricia Collins & Katherine L. Frohlich, 2022. "A Tale of Two Cities: Unpacking the Success and Failure of School Street Interventions in Two Canadian Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Lopes, F. & Cordovil, R. & Neto, C., 2014. "Children’s independent mobility in Portugal: effects of urbanization degree and motorized modes of travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 210-219.
    7. Westman, Jessica & Johansson, Maria & Olsson, Lars E. & Mårtensson, Fredrika & Friman, Margareta, 2013. "Children’s affective experience of every-day travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 95-102.
    8. Mackett, Roger L., 2013. "Children’s travel behaviour and its health implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 66-72.
    9. Fyhri, Aslak & Hjorthol, Randi, 2009. "Children’s independent mobility to school, friends and leisure activities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 377-384.
    10. Bethany D. Williams & Susan B. Sisson & Dipti A. Dev & Bryce Lowery & Diane Horm & Janis Campbell & Denise Finneran & Jennifer Graef-Downard & Linda Whaley, 2021. "Associations between Community Built Environments with Early Care and Education Classroom Physical Activity Practices and Barriers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-16, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:9:p:3030-3050:d:19671. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.