Home and Neighborhood Physical Activity Location Availability among African American Adolescent Girls Living in Low-Income, Urban communities: Associations with Objectively Measured Physical Activity

Description: This study generated a replicable neighborhood-level physical activity location availability score (PALAS) from data variables associated with physical activity among adolescents. This score was used to determine if a relationship exists between PA and PA location availability in Baltimore City, Maryland. Nine PALAS component variables were applied to 218 locations. Private PA location variables were created in 2014 through a double-blind research procedure using pre-identified search terms in Google Maps. All other variables were obtained, compiled, and modified from existing digital spatial data layers, spanning 2010-2013 from the Capital Improvement office inventories at the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. 555 adolescent girls were recruited from 22 Baltimore city public schools serving predominantly low-income communities to participate in a health promotion study between 2009 and 2012. Height was measured using a portable stadiometer and weight was measured using the TANITA TBF-300 body composition scale. Gender-specific BMI-for-age percentiles were generated using CDC 2000 growth indices. An Actical accelerometer was used to track activity for at least 7 consecutive days. Home addresses were geocoded using ArcGIS software by ESRI.
Timeframe: 2009 - 2012
Geographic Coverage: Baltimore (Md.)

Subject of Study

Subject Domain

Population Age

Child (2 years to 12 years)

Adolescent (13 years to 18 years)

Keywords

Grant Support: MPower Grant/University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences

K12HD4489-8/NICHD University of Maryland's Organized Research Effort in Women's Health BIRCWH K12 Scholars Program

R01 HD054727/NICHD

TL1 TR003100/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

UMB Data Catalog