Personal, Family, and Peer Correlates of General and Sport Physical Activity among African American, Latino, and White Girls

This study examined associations between personal, family, and peer variables on objectively measured physical activity (PA), and sports participation, of African American, Latino, and white girls. Specific variables included barriers efficacy, parent PA, parent support of PA, the home exercise environment, friends’ PA, and friends’ support of PA. The sample comprised 372 girls (mean age = 12.03 years; SD = 1.81; n = 128 African American, n = 120 Latino, and n = 124 white). Data were analyzed using multiple-sample structural equation models (by ethnicity), controlling for age, household income, body mass index, and physical development. Girls’ moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was positively related to friends’ support for all groups, and to parent PA only for African American girls. For sports, greater parental support related to more participation across ethnic/racial groups, whereas friends’ support was important only for African American girls. Age and physical development were negatively related to MVPA, and higher income was associated with greater sports participation. Numerous significant correlations emerged between the independent variables, with some differences across racial/ethnic groups. Findings highlight the role of parent and friends’ support for both MVPA and sports participation of early adolescent girls, as well as the importance of determining PA correlates among different ethnic/racial subgroups

Reliability of pedometer data in samples of youth and older women

BACKGROUND: Pedometers offer researchers a convenient and inexpensive tool for objective measurement of physical activity. However, many unanswered questions remain about expected values for steps/day for different populations, sources of variation in the data, and reliability of pedometer measurements. METHODS: This study documented and compared mean steps/day, demographic predictors of steps/day, and pedometer reliability in two longitudinal investigations, one involving a population-based youth sample (N = 367) and the other targeting postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes (N = 270). Individuals were asked to wear pedometers (Yamax model SW-701) at the waist for 7 days and record steps/per day. They were also asked to record daily physical activities, duration, and perceived intensity (1 = low/light, 2 = medium/moderate, 3 = high/hard) for the same 7 days. In addition, survey data regarding usual physical activity was collected. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine whether there were significant differences in pedometer results according to sex, age, and body mass index. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to examine potential differences in results among differing numbers of days. RESULTS: Mean steps/day were 10,365 steps in the youth sample and 4,352 steps in the sample of older women. Girls took significantly fewer steps than boys, older women took fewer steps than younger women, and both youth and women with greater body mass took fewer steps than those with lower body mass. Reliability coefficients of .80 or greater were obtained with 5 or more days of data collection in the youth sample and 2 or more days in the sample of older women. Youth and older women were more active on weekdays than on weekends. Low but significant associations were found between step counts and self-report measures of physical activity in both samples. CONCLUSION: Mean steps/day and reliability estimates in the two samples were generally consistent with previously published studies of pedometer use. Based on these two studies, unsealed pedometers were found to offer an easy-to-use and cost-effective objective measure of physical activity in both youth and older adult populations

A multilevel approach to youth physical activity research.

A multilevel approach to youth physical activity research. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev., Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 95-99, 2004. Social environment factors are hypothesized to interact with individual-level factors to influence youth physical activity. Multilevel analytic approaches are ideal for examining the influence of the social environment on youth physical activity as they allow examination of research questions across multiple contexts and levels (e.g., individual, family, and neighborhood levels)

Use of a local worker survey as a source of neighborhood information

Researchers increasingly recognize the potential influence of the neighborhood environment on individual health and social behavior. To examine these influences, it is important to use varying measures and sources of neighborhood characteristics. Though neighborhood residents are often surveyed, the perceptions of neighborhood workers have been largely ignored. The current study documents procedures and findings from two longitudinal studies in which workers in 60 neighborhoods were surveyed about neighborhood social cohesion and social control (collective efficacy), and neighborhood problems. Results indicated that workers within neighborhoods were more homogeneous in their views of neighborhood collective efficacy and neighborhood problems than were workers across neighborhoods. In addition, not only were workers' perceptions of their neighborhoods similar to the perceptions of neighborhood residents but they also provided unique information. Overall, this study demonstrates the viability and usefulness of local workers as an additional source of neighborhood information. Keywords: neighborhoods; collective efficacy; measures; multilevel modeling R esearchers increasingly recognize the need for linking micro-and macrolevel dimensions of social behavior. Neighborhood demographic Environment and Behavior Volume XX Number X Month XXXX xx-x