The impact of neighborhood walkability on walking: Does it differ across adult life stage and does neighborhood buffer size matter?

We explored the impact of neighborhood walkability on young adults, early middle adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults' walking across different neighborhood buffers. Participants completed the Western Australian Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System Survey (2003-2009) and were allocated a neighborhood vvalkability score at 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, and 1600 m around their home. We found little difference in strength of associations across neighborhood size buffers for all life stages. We conclude that neighborhood vvalkability supports more walking regardless of adult life stage and is relevant for small (e.g., 200 m) and larger (e.g., 1600 m) neighborhood buffers. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.