Is the Association between Park Proximity and Recreational Physical Activity among Mid-Older Aged Adults Moderated by Park Quality and Neighborhood Conditions?

Jelle Van Cauwenberg, Ester Cerin, Anna Timperio, Jo Salmon, Benedicte Deforche and Jenny Veitch
Additional contact information
Jelle Van Cauwenberg: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Ester Cerin: Institute for Health and Ageing, Australian Catholic University, Spring Street 215 (level 6), Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
Anna Timperio: Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Highway 221, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
Jo Salmon: Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Highway 221, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia
Benedicte Deforche: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Jenny Veitch: Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Highway 221, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between park proximity and recreational physical activity (PA), which could be explained by park quality and the surrounding neighborhood environment. We examined whether park quality and perceptions of the neighborhood physical and social environment moderated associations between park proximity and recreational PA among mid-older aged adults. Cross-sectional self-reported data on park proximity, park quality, neighborhood physical and social environmental factors, recreational walking and other moderate- to vigorous-intensity recreational physical activity (MVPA) were collected among 2700 Australian adults (57–69 years) in 2012. Main effects between park proximity and measures of recreational PA were non-significant. Park proximity was positively related to engagement in recreational walking among participants who reported average and high social trust and cohesion, but not among those reporting low social trust and cohesion. No other moderating effects were observed. Current findings suggest synergistic relationships between park proximity and social trust and cohesion with mid-older aged adults’ recreational walking. More research is needed to unravel the complex relationship between parks, recreational PA and the social context of neighborhoods.

Keywords: motor activity; environment design; retirement; social environment; ecological model; walking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/2/192/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/2/192/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:2:p:192-:d:90327

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().