Perceptions of neighborhood environments and childhood obesity: Evidence of harmful gender inequities among Portuguese children

• Published in: Health & place 2013-01, Vol.19, p.69-73
• Main Authors: Nogueira, Helena, Ferrão, Maria, Gama, Augusta, Mourão, Isabel, Rosado Marques, Vitor, Padez, Cristina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Distribution; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Child; Child health; Child, Preschool; Childhood obesity; Children; Cross-Sectional Studies; Environment Design; Environmental aspects; Female; Gender differentiation; Gender inequities; General aspects; Health technology assessment; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Motor Activity; Neighbourhoods; Obese children; Obesity; Parents; Parents - psychology; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Perception; Perceptions; Physical activity; Physical environment; Portugal; Portugal - epidemiology; Prevalence; Regression analysis; Residence Characteristics; Safety; Sex Distribution; Social and built neighborhood environment; Social Environment; Socioeconomic Factors
• ISSN: 1353-8292; 1873-2054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.10.005

This study investigates the links between parents’ perceptions of their social and built residential environment and obesity among Portuguese school boys and girls. A total of 1885 children, 952 girls and 933 boys, aged 3.0–10.0 years, were observed. The children’s weight and height were measured, and their parents filled out the “Environmental Module” questionnaire of the International Physical Activity Prevalence Study. Age and sex-speci`fic BMI cut-off points were used to define being overweight/obese. Environmental characteristics were combined into 2 composite neighborhood indices that were used as predictors in logistic regression models. Girls living in neighborhoods perceived as having poorly built environmental conditions had increased odds of being obese (OR=1.47; p