Abstract
BackgroundNumerous definitions of neighborhood exist, yet few studies have considered youth’s perceptions of neighborhood boundaries. This study compared youth-identified neighborhood (YIN) boundaries to census-defined neighborhood (CDN) boundaries, and determined how the amount of time spent and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels compared within both boundary types.MethodsAdolescents aged 11–14 years were asked to identify their neighborhood boundaries using a map. Objective location and physical activity data collected using Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and accelerometers were used to calculate the amount of time spent and MVPA within youth-identified and census-defined neighborhood boundaries. Paired bivariate analyses compared mean area (meters squared), percent of total time, daily MVPA (minutes), time density (minutes/m2) and MVPA density (minutes/m2) for both boundary types.ResultsYouth-identified neighborhoods (1,821,705 m2) and census-defined neighborhoods (1,277,181 m2) were not significantly different in area, p = 0.30. However, subjects spent more time in youth-identified neighborhoods (80.3%) than census-defined neighborhoods (58.4%), p < 0.0001, and engaged in more daily MVPA within youth-identified neighborhoods (14.7 minutes) than census-defined neighborhoods (9.5 minutes), p < 0.0001. After adjusting for boundary area, MVPA density (minutes of MVPA per squared meter of area) remained significantly greater for youth-identified neighborhoods (2.4 × 10-4 minutes/m2) than census-defined neighborhoods (1.4 × 10-4 minutes/m2), p = 0.02.ConclusionsAdolescents perceive their neighborhoods to be similar in size to census-defined neighborhoods. However, youth-identified neighborhoods better capture the locations in which adolescents spend time and engage in physical activity. Asking adolescents to identify their neighborhood boundaries is a feasible and valuable method for identifying the spaces that adolescents are exposed to and use to be physically active.
Highlights
Numerous definitions of neighborhood exist, yet few studies have considered youth’s perceptions of neighborhood boundaries
This study tested the feasibility of asking adolescents to identify what they perceived to be their residential neighborhood and activity spaces and looked at how youth-identified neighborhood boundaries compare to census tract boundaries, which are commonly used in studying neighborhood effects
We found that youth-identified neighborhoods captured significantly more of adolescents’ overall time and daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than census-defined neighborhoods, suggesting that youth-identified boundaries may serve as a better proxy for exposure area than census tracts in studying adolescent physical activity and risk exposures
Summary
Numerous definitions of neighborhood exist, yet few studies have considered youth’s perceptions of neighborhood boundaries. Place effects research has relied on neighborhood proxies including census and administrative boundaries [5,9], predefined Euclidean and street network buffers around the home or school area [2,6,7,8,10,11,12,13], and resident report of easy walking or driving distance [14,15]. While using census boundaries and predetermined buffers may be a convenient means of approximating neighborhood, these proxies are inadequate in identifying the various spaces that individuals travel to and are exposed to and thereby the factors that may impact health [22,23,24,25]
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