Evidence documents associations between neighborhood design and active and sedentary forms of travel. Most studies compare travel patterns for people located in different types of neighborhoods at one point in time adjusting for demographics. Most fail to account for either underlying neighborhood selection factors (reasons for choosing a neighborhood) or preferences (neighborhoods that are pre...

BACKGROUND Although neighborhoods with more collective efficacy have better health in general, recent work suggests that social norms and collective efficacy may in combination influence health behaviors such as smoking. METHODS Using data from the New York Social Environment Study (conducted in 2005; n=4000), we examined the separate and combined associations of neighborhood collective effic...

BACKGROUND Built environment attributes are recognized as being important contributors to physical activity (PA) engagement and body size in adults and children. However, much of the existing research in this emergent public health field is hindered by methodological limitations, including: population and site homogeneity, reliance on self-report measures, aggregated measures of PA, and inadequ...

BACKGROUND Evidence of associations between neighborhood built environments and transport-related physical activity (PA) is accumulating, but few studies have investigated associations with leisure-time PA. OBJECTIVE We investigated associations of five objectively measured characteristics of the neighborhood built environment-destination access, street connectivity, dwelling density, land-us...

This study examined associations between neighborhood social factors and physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) in older adults. Furthermore, possible moderating effects of neighborhood walkability were explored. Data from 431 community-dwelling Belgian older adults (≥65 years) were analyzed. Neighborhood social factors included measures of neighboring, social trust and cohesion and...

Neighborhood socioeconomic environment may be a determinant of injection drug use cessation. The authors used data from a prospective cohort study of Baltimore City, Maryland, injection drug users assessed between 1990 and 2006. The study examined the relation between living in a poorer neighborhood and the probability of injection cessation among active injectors, independent of individual cha...

The article reports on a multilevel analysis conducted to examine change in neighborhood walking activity over a 12-month period in a community-based sample of 28 neighborhoods of 303 older adults age 65 and over. The study employed a multilevel (residents nested within neighborhoods) and longitudinal (4 repeated measures over 1 year) design and a multilevel analysis of change and predictors of...

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence suggests that neighborhood characteristics can have direct and indirect effects on the weight status of the residents. OBJECTIVES To assess the relationship between general and central obesity and the neighborhood environment in two ethnic groups (Azeri Turks and Kurds) living in Urmia city, Northwestern Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, ...