Sedentary Behaviour in Swiss Children and Adolescents: Disentangling Associations with the Perceived and Objectively Measured Environment

Bettina Bringolf-Isler, Kees De Hoogh, Christian Schindler, Bengt Kayser, L. Suzanne Suggs, Alain Dössegger, Nicole Probst-Hensch and The SOPHYA Study Group
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Bettina Bringolf-Isler: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
Kees De Hoogh: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
Christian Schindler: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
Bengt Kayser: Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
L. Suzanne Suggs: Institute of Public Communication, University della Svizzera italiana, Via G. Buffi 13, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland
Alain Dössegger: Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM, 2532 Magglingen, Switzerland
Nicole Probst-Hensch: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
The SOPHYA Study Group: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Identifying correlates of sedentary behaviour across all levels of the ecological model and understanding their interrelations is a promising method to plan effective interventions. The present study examined whether the objectively assessed and the perceived neighbourhood are associated with children’s sedentary behaviour time (SBT). A comprehensive set of factors at different levels of influence across the ecological model were taken into account and analysed for mediating and modifying effects. Analyses were based on 1306 children and adolescents (6–16 years) participating in the population-based SOPHYA-study. Accelerometers were used to assess SBT, the perceived environment was examined by a validated parental questionnaire, and objective environmental data were allocated using GIS (ArcMap 10.2, Esri, Redlands, CA, USA) for each family’s residential address. A high perceived safety was associated with less SBT. Boys, those whose residential neighbourhood was characterized by dead ends in urban areas, a low main street density in the neighbourhood of children and greenness were less likely to exhibit SBT. The association of the objective environment with the respective parental perceptions was low and no significant mediating effect was found for the perceived environment. We conclude for land-use planning to reduce sedentary behaviour objective environments should be complemented with efforts to increase parental sense of security.

Keywords: sedentary behaviour; accelerometer; home environment; perceived environment; GIS; objective environment; children; adolescents; neighbourhood; social environment; urbanicity; walkability; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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