ROLE OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIORS OF RURAL

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究旨在研究城乡居住中学生在活动、体育活动机会和建筑环境方面的差异。本研究将以社会生态学方法为指导，并采用混合方法设计。社会生态学方法关注支持健康行为的人际、组织、社区和环境因素。对于拟议的研究，首先将进行一项定性研究，该研究将从一个农村和一个城市社区的社区利益相关者、父母及其子女那里收集有关体育活动机会和建筑环境方面的数据。这将有助于编制一份调查问卷，以评估适合两个地点的建筑环境。其次，进行定量研究，收集来自同一农村（n = 225）和城市（n = 225）社区的450名中学生的客观测量的身体活动和心血管健康状况。参与的儿童还将提供有关个人内部、人际间和社区层面（即体育活动的机会和建筑环境的各个方面）的信息，这些因素是体育活动的障碍和机会。最后，将收集有关体育活动机会和建筑环境特征的接近度的客观数据（使用GIS收集）。这项研究将解决两个主要目标：1)比较生活在城市化地区和农村县的中学生在支持体育活动的社区环境和建筑环境方面的差异；2)研究生活在城市化地区和农村县的中学生在支持体育活动的环境和建筑环境特征与心血管健康和体育活动之间的关系。拟议的工作与疾病预防控制中心与其核心使命相关的两个总体目标直接相关；1)生命每个阶段的健康人，2)健康场所的健康人，通过提供与传播促进农村和城市环境中儿童身体活动干预措施有关的信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The present study seeks to examine differences in activity, opportunities for physical activity, and aspects of the built environment across rural and urban dwelling middle school children. This study will be guided by a social-ecological approach and will utilize a mixed-methods design. A social-ecological approach focuses attention on interpersonal, organizational, community, and environmental factors which support healthy behaviors. For the proposed research, a qualitative study will be conducted first which will collect data from community stakeholders, parents and their children regarding opportunities for physical activity and aspects of the built environment in one rural and one urban community. This will inform the construction of a questionnaire to assess the built environment which is appropriate for both locations. Secondly, a quantitative study will be conducted to collect objectively measured physical activity and cardiovascular fitness in 450 middle school children in the same rural (n = 225) and urban (n = 225) communities. Participating children will also provide information concerning intra-personal, inter-personal, and community level (i.e., opportunities for physical activity and aspects of the built environment) factors that are barriers and opportunities for physical activity. Finally, objective data (collected using GIS) concerning proximity to opportunities for physical activity and features of the built environment will be collected. This study will address two primary aims: 1) To compare aspects of the community environment in the form of programming and built environment that support physical activity which differ across middle school children living in an urbanized area and a rural county, and 2) To examine associations between environmental supports for physical activity and features of the built environment with cardiovascular fitness and physical activity in middle school children living in an urbanized area and a rural county. The proposed work is directly relevant to two of the CDC's overarching goals related to its core mission; 1) Healthy People in Every Stage of Life, 2) Healthy People in Healthy Places by providing information pertinent to the dissemination of physical activity promoting interventions for children in rural and urban environments.