What determines walking of older people in their neighborhood?

Marijke Hopman-Rock, Sanne I de Vries, Ingrid Bakker, Wil TM Ooijendijk

Lifestyle Expertise Center, TNO Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Leiden, The Netherlands.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpm.2012.23040                

Abstract

Based on literature review and five focus groups, a model was analyzed describing individual, social environmental and physical environmental (perceived) determinants of walking by older people. Aim was to test whether these determinants were significantly associated with the duration of walking by older people (N = 567, 50 - 80 years) in a middle-sized Dutch town. Walking time was best predicted by attitude towards walking (partial correlation in model (partial r) 0.18; p < 0.05), social contacts (partial r 0.12, p < 0.05), perceived quality of life (partial r 0.21 p < 0.01), satisfaction with the demographics of the neighborhood (partial r - 0.14, p < 0.01), and walking outside the neighborhood (partial r 0.28 p < 0.01). The model explained 20% of the total variance in walking time. Conclusion is that individual and social determinants predicted the most variance in walking time and that perceived environmental determinants played only a minor role. Health promotion actions may benefit from these insights.

Keywords

Older Adults; Physical Activity; Environment; Health; Determinants

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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