Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
Volume 42, Issue 5, Pages E37-E46Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.02.005
Keywords
-
Funding
- NIH [R01 HD057194, R01 HD041375, R01 HD39183, R01 HL104580]
- CDC [5-00, R36-EH000380]
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P01-HD31921]
- Royster Society of Fellows at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Interdisciplinary Obesity Training Program [T32MH075854-04]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
To effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity through healthy community design, it is essential to understand which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups. However, most neighborhood environment research is cross-sectional, focuses on adults, and is often carried out in small, nongeneralizable geographic areas. Thus, there is a great need for longitudinal neighborhood environment research in diverse populations across the life cycle. This paper describes (1) insights and challenges of longitudinal neighborhood environment research and (2) advancements and remaining gaps in measurement and study design that examine individuals and neighborhoods within the context of the broader community. Literature-based research and findings from the Obesity and Neighborhood Environment Database (ONEdata), a unique longitudinal GIS that is spatially and temporally linked to data in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 20,745), provide examples of current limitations in this area of research. Findings suggest a need for longitudinal methodologic advancements to better control for dynamic sources of bias, investigate and capture appropriate temporal frameworks, and address complex residential location processes within families. Development of improved neighborhood environment measures that capture relevant geographic areas within complex communities and investigation of differences across urbanicity and sociodemographic composition are needed. Further longitudinal research is needed to identify, refine, and evaluate national and local policies to most effectively reduce childhood obesity. (Am J Prev Med 2012;42(5):e37-e46) (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available