TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations of sociodemographic and community environmental variables to use of public parks and trails for physical activity
AU - Paxton, Raheem J.
AU - Sharpe, Patricia A.
AU - Granner, Michelle L.
AU - Hutto, Brent
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was funded by a co-operative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U48/CCU409664-06). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Health practitioners suggest that building walking trails and parks that are available and accessible to the public are useful interventions to promote physical activity; however few studies exist on factors that promote public park or trail use. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate determinants of and correlates to public park and trail use. A random-digit-dialled, cross-sectional telephone survey was administered to 2117 South Carolina, US residents in two adjacent counties. Participants more likely to use trails were employed (p<.001), African American (p<.001), younger (aged 18-34, p<.001), perceived the community safe for physical activity (p<.05), knew one or more mapped out routes for walking/jogging and bicycle routes (p<.001), and reported one or more available trails or parks they might use (p<.001). Similar to participants reporting trial use, park users were more likely to be employed (p<.001), male (p<.05), African American (p<.001), aged 18-34 (p<.001), knew of two or more walking/jogging or bicycle routes (p<.001), perceived the community was safe (p<.05) and perceived that physical activity was important to citizens in the county (p<.05). Convenient and accessible trails and parks may be of particular importance/benefit for promoting physical activity among persons of ethnic minority groups.
AB - Health practitioners suggest that building walking trails and parks that are available and accessible to the public are useful interventions to promote physical activity; however few studies exist on factors that promote public park or trail use. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate determinants of and correlates to public park and trail use. A random-digit-dialled, cross-sectional telephone survey was administered to 2117 South Carolina, US residents in two adjacent counties. Participants more likely to use trails were employed (p<.001), African American (p<.001), younger (aged 18-34, p<.001), perceived the community safe for physical activity (p<.05), knew one or more mapped out routes for walking/jogging and bicycle routes (p<.001), and reported one or more available trails or parks they might use (p<.001). Similar to participants reporting trial use, park users were more likely to be employed (p<.001), male (p<.05), African American (p<.001), aged 18-34 (p<.001), knew of two or more walking/jogging or bicycle routes (p<.001), perceived the community was safe (p<.05) and perceived that physical activity was important to citizens in the county (p<.05). Convenient and accessible trails and parks may be of particular importance/benefit for promoting physical activity among persons of ethnic minority groups.
KW - Environment
KW - Park
KW - Physical activity
KW - Trail
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U2 - 10.1080/14635240.2005.10708051
DO - 10.1080/14635240.2005.10708051
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:29444449331
SN - 1463-5240
VL - 43
SP - 108
EP - 116
JO - International Journal of Health Promotion and Education
JF - International Journal of Health Promotion and Education
IS - 4
ER -