Abstract
Sedentary behavior has negative health effects. It is assumed that the walkability of the living environment is related to the amount of time spent on sedentary behavior in the residential setting. However, evidence on such a relation is still scarce, and results are contradictory. Therefore, we examined to what extent residential neighborhood walkability is associated with a variety of sedentary behaviors that frequently occur in the residential setting among adults. We carried out a cross-sectional survey using the domain-specific sedentary behavior questionnaire among adults in Breda, the Netherlands. Respondents’ walkability of the living environment was assessed objectively by means of road network buffers. We employed gamma generalized linear regressions to assess correlations between multiple sedentary behaviors and neighborhood walkability. We found no significant associations between residential neighborhood walkability and sedentary behavior levels. The lack of correlations was consistent across buffer sizes. Our models showed that adults with a higher education, a job, and a driver’s license spent significantly less time on sedentary behaviors. Our findings suggest that person-level characteristics should be targeted when developing intervention strategies to counteract sedentary time, rather than intervening in the walkability of the residential living environment.
Highlights
There is growing evidence that pronounced levels of sedentary behaviors have negative health effects [1,2]
Another study found a correlation in the unexpected direction for a total sedentary time measure [28], suggesting that adults living in highly walkable neighborhoods spend more time on sedentary behavior
This study investigated the extent to which objectively measured neighborhood walkability correlates with a variety of sedentary behaviors in adults
Summary
There is growing evidence that pronounced levels of sedentary behaviors have negative health effects [1,2]. Studies showed positive associations between adults who spent greater time on sedentary behavior and an increased risk of several diseases (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular diseases) [1]. As these findings were independent of people’s physical activity levels, sedentary behavior cannot be seen as synonymous with physical inactivity [4]. 20% of European adults spend about 7.5 h per day sitting down, which illustrates the high prevalence of sedentary behavior [6,7]. Meta-analysis indicated an increase in adults’ all-cause mortality with 6 to 8 hours of sedentary time accumulated over a day [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
