Impact of built, social, and economic environments on adolescent obesity and related health behaviors
Authors' conclusion
The built environment, but not social and economic environments, was a strong predictor of adolescents' BMI, overweight or obesity status, and eating behaviors.
Study context
- Population
- Adolescents (mean age 13.5 years) in military families, exposure defined by assigned installation's county environmentsfull sample
- Participants
- 1,111 adolescents
- Exposure
- More vs less advantageous county built, social and economic environments
- Outcome
- Built environment (exposure >2 years) and obesity outcomes
- Follow-up
- Exposure >2 years
Methodological detailsnatural experiment (quasi-exogenous assignment of military families' location), intent-to-treat models, multivariate linear and logistic models
- Natural experiment (quasi-exogenous assignment of military families' location)
- Intent-to-treat models
- Multivariate linear and logistic models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
exposure >2 years
Probability of obesity, more advantageous built environment
−0.18
95% CI −0.34 to −0.026
Probability of overweight or obesity, more advantageous built environment
−0.34
95% CI −0.56 to −0.12
BMI z score, more advantageous built environment
−0.76
95% CI −1.45 to −0.02
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Adolescents living off-installation
- Results for adolescents living off-installation were similar
- n = 604
Diet and physical activity
- More advantageous built environments associated with lower consumption of unhealthy foods, but not with physical activity
Social and economic environments
- Social and economic environments not associated with any outcomes
Original publication
Impact of built, social, and economic environments on adolescent obesity and related health behaviors. Obesity (Silver Spring). Published 21 March 2023. doi:10.
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