Jessie X. Fan

Mixed land use and walkability: Variations in land use measures and relationships with BMI, overweight, and obesity.

Few studies compare alternative measures of land use diversity or mix in relationship to body mass index. We compare four types of diversity measures: entropy scores (measures of equal distributions of walkable land use categories), distances to walkable destinations (parks and transit stops), proxy measures of mixed use (walk to work measures and neighborhood housing ages), and land use categories used in entropy scores. Generalized estimating equations, conducted on 5000 randomly chosen licensed drivers aged 25-64 in Salt Lake County, Utah, relate lower BMIs to older neighborhoods, components of a 6-category land use entropy score, and nearby light rail stops. Thus the presence of walkable land uses, rather than their equal mixture, relates to healthy weight.

Leisure Travel Expenditure Patterns by Family Life Cycle Stages

Abstract This study examines travel expenditure patterns by family life cycle (FLC) stages and identifies characteristics that influence the likelihood and level of travel expenditures in the U.S. The 1999–2000 Consumer Expenditure (CE) survey is used and a two-stage tobit regression analysis is performed. Across the FLC, families maximize their utility through different allocations of resources among leisure travel goods and services as shown by the results of this study. Marrieds without children are more likely to spend on leisure travel than singles, whereas single parents and solitary survivors are less likely to spend on leisure travel than singles. Moreover, Marrieds without children, full nesters II, and empty nesters spend significantly more than singles, whereas solitary survivors spend significantly less on leisure travel. Constraint factors (time and money) and various sociodemographic characteristics are significantly associated with the likelihood of spending on leisure travel and total expenditures. Based on these findings, implications formarketers are discussed.

Neighborhood effects on health among migrants and natives in Shanghai, China.

This article compares health status between internal migrants and urban natives in Shanghai, China and examines neighborhood effects on self-rated health, chronic conditions, and psychological well-being. Migrants on average exhibit better health than natives in Shanghai. Neighborhood satisfaction, social cohesion and safety show strong association with health after controlling for individual factors. However, these associations tend to be weaker for migrants than for natives in Shanghai. Income, perceived stress, and neighborhood social cohesion jointly explain about 26% of the link between neighborhood satisfaction and an index of overall well-being. Among individual-level SES indicators, income is more strongly linked to self-rated health than education and occupation. Relative to SES indicators, perceived loneliness and stress are more directly associated with health. Study limitations and future research direction are discussed in the end.

Neighborhood Design for Walking and Biking: Physical Activity and Body Mass Index

BACKGROUND Neighborhood designs often relate to physical activity and to BMI. PURPOSE Does neighborhood walkability/bikeability relate to BMI and obesity risk and does moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) account for some of the relationship? METHODS Census 2000 provided walkability/bikeability measures-block group proportions of workers who walk or bike to work, housing age, and population density-and National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES 2003-2006) provided MVPA accelerometer measures. Regression analyses (2011-2012) adjusted for geographic clustering and multiple control variables. RESULTS Greater density and older housing were associated with lower male BMI in bivariate analyses, but there were no density and housing age effects in multivariate models. For women, greater proportions of neighborhood workers who walk to work (M=0.02) and more MVPA was associated with lower BMI and lower obesity risk. For men, greater proportions of workers who bike to work (M=0.004) and more MVPA was associated with lower BMI and obesity risk. For both effects, MVPA partially mediated the relationships between walkability/bikeability and BMI. If such associations are causal, doubling walk and bike-to-work proportions (to 0.04 and 0.008) would have -0.3 and -0.33 effects on the average BMIs of adult women and men living in the neighborhood. This equates to 1.5 pounds for a 64-inch-tall woman and 2.3 pounds for a 69-inch-tall man. CONCLUSIONS Although walking/biking to work is rare in the U.S., greater proportions of such workers in neighborhoods relate to lower weight and higher MVPA. Bikeability merits greater attention as a modifiable activity-friendliness factor, particularly for men.

Rural–Urban Differences in Objective and Subjective Measures of Physical Activity: Findings From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2006

Introduction Lower levels of physical activity among rural relative to urban residents have been suggested as an important contributor to rural–urban health disparity; however, empirical evidence is sparse. Methods We examined rural–urban differences in 4 objective physical activity measures (2 intensity thresholds by 2 bout lengths) and 4 subjective measures (total, leisure, household, and transportation) in a nationally representative sample of participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2006. The sample comprised 5,056 adults aged 20 to 75 years. Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes were matched with NHANES subjects to identify urban status and 2 types of rural status. Rural–urban and within–rural differences in physical activity were estimated without and with controls for demographic and socioeconomic variables. Results Rural residents were less active than urban residents in high-intensity long bout (2,020 counts per minute threshold and 10 miniutes or longer bout length) accelerometer-measured physical activity (42.5 ± 6.2 min/wk vs 55.9 ± 2.8 min/wk) but the difference disappeared with a lower-intensity threshold (760 counts per minute). Rural residents reported more total physical activity than urban residents (438.3 ± 35.3min/wk vs 371.2 ± 12.5 min/wk), with differences primarily attributable to household physical activity. Within rural areas, micropolitan residents were less active than residents in smaller rural areas. Controlling for other variables reduced the size of the differences. Conclusion The direction and significance of rural–urban difference in physical activity varied by the method of physical activity measurement, likely related to rural residents spending more time in low-intensity household physical activity but less time in high-intensity physical activity. Micropolitan residents were substantially less active than residents in smaller rural areas, indicating that physical activity did not vary unidirectionally with degree of urbanization.

Re-visiting the relationship between neighbourhood environment and BMI: an instrumental variables approach to correcting for residential selection bias

BackgroundA burgeoning literature links attributes of neighbourhoods’ built environments to residents’ physical activity, food and transportation choices, weight, and/or obesity risk. In cross-sectional studies, non-random residential selection impedes researchers’ ability to conclude that neighbourhood environments cause these outcomes.MethodsCross-sectional data for the current study are based on 14,689 non-Hispanic white women living in Salt Lake County, Utah, USA. Instrumental variables techniques are used to adjust for the possibility that neighbourhoods may affect weight but heavier or lighter women may also choose to live in certain neighbourhoods. All analyses control for the average BMI of siblings and thus familial predisposition for overweight/obesity, which is often an omitted variable in past studies.ResultsWe find that cross-sectional analyses relating neighbourhood characteristics to BMI understate the strength of the relationship if they do not make statistical adjustments for the decision to live in a walkable neighbourhood. Standard cross-sectional estimation reveals no significant relationship between neighbourhood walkability and BMI. However, the instrumental variables estimates reveal statistically significant effects.ConclusionsWe find evidence that residential selection leads to an understatement of the causal effects of neighbourhood walkability features on BMI. Although caution should be used in generalizing from research done with one demographic group in a single locale, our findings support the contention that public policies designed to alter neighbourhood walkability may moderately affect the BMI of large numbers of individuals.

A Comparison of Household Budget Allocation Patterns Between Hispanic Americans and Non-Hispanic White Americans

The budget allocation patterns of Hispanic versus non-Hispanic White households are examined. Annual household expenditure data from 1980 to 1992 are constructed from the interview component of the Consumer Expenditure Survey (1980–1992), the Consumer Price Index (1980–1992), and the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association (ACCRA) Cost of Living Index (1990). The sample includes 588 Hispanic and 8,444 non-Hispanic White households. A Linear Approximation of the Almost Ideal Demand System with 23 demographic variables is estimated. Findings show that holding other things equal, compared to non-Hispanic White households, Hispanic households allocate significantly more of their budget to food at home, shelter, and apparel and significantly less to food away from home, entertainment, education, health care, and tobacco.

Moderate to vigorous physical activity and weight outcomes: does every minute count?

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to test if moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in less than the recommended ≥ 10-minute bouts related to weight outcomes. Design. Secondary data analysis. Setting. Random sample from the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Participants. A total of 4511 adults aged 18 to 64 years from the 2003–2006 NHANES. Method. Clinically measured body mass index (BMI) and overweight/obese status were regressed on accelerometer measures of minutes per day in higher-intensity long bouts (≥ 10 minutes, ≥ 2020 accelerometer counts per minute [cpm]), higher-intensity short bouts (< 10 minutes, ≥ 2020 cpm), lower-intensity long bouts (≥ 10 minutes, 760–2019 cpm), and lower-intensity short bouts (< 10 minutes, 760–2019 cpm). Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics were controlled. Results. Both higher-intensity short bouts and long bouts of PA related to lower BMI and risk of overweight/obesity. Neither lower-intensity short bouts nor long bouts related to BMI or risk of overweight/obesity Conclusion. The current ≥ 10-minute MVPA bouts guideline was based on health benefits other than weight outcomes. Our findings showed that for weight gain prevention, accumulated higher-intensity PA bouts of < 10 minutes are highly beneficial, supporting the public health promotion message that “every minute counts.”

Mixed Land Use and Obesity: An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Land Use Measures and Geographic Scales

Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. Walkable neighborhoods, characterized as having the three Ds of walkability (population Density, land use Diversity, and pedestrian-friendly Design), have been identified as a potentially promising factor to prevent obesity for residents. Past studies examining the relationship between obesity and walkability vary in geographic scales of neighborhood definitions and methods of measuring the three Ds. To better understand potential influences of these sometimes arbitrary choices, we test how four types of alternative measures of land use diversity measured at three geographic scales relate to body mass index for 4,960 Salt Lake County adults. Generalized estimation equation models demonstrate that optimal diversity measures differed by gender and geographic scale and that integrating walkability measures at different scales improved the overall performance of models.

Expenditure Patterns of Asian Americans: Evidence From the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1980–1992

This article applies a linear approximation of the Almost Ideal Demand System with a set of demographic variables to study the differences in expenditure patterns between Asian American households and households in three other ethnic/racial groups: Black, Hispanic, and White. Findings show that even after controllingfor other economic and demographic factors, compared with each of the three other ethnic/racial groups, Asian American households have significantly different expenditure patterns in 6 or more expenditure categories out of a total of 13. Besides implications for consumer educators, financial planners, and producers, the results of this study can provide guidelines for combining Asian American households with other ethnic/racial groups in expenditure studies so that households within the combined group can be as homogeneous as possible.