| Background. Physical activity across the lifespan is associated with numerous health benefits. That the built environment can influence physical activity is a widely accepted hypothesis which has been examined extensively in urban/suburban and across urban-rural environments. Numerous census variables, such as housing density, percent renter, and others related to urbanity, are related to physical activity and built environment measures. However, the rural built environment's influence on adult physical activity is relatively unexplored.;Data collection. In five rural school districts in western New York, 1,136 adults (30+ years) responded to a survey regarding the time they spent performing physical activity in the past week, primary location of physical activity, theoretical health behavior concepts, demographic variables, and geographic location. Of the respondents 820 provided enough address information to defining their residential location or zone as six census blocks or less. Separately, trained observers conducted 391 street audits in the same five school districts, noting the presence or type of features of the built environment.;Analysis. Using respondents' location of physical activity and residential zones' census variables, I developed a log-binomial regression model predicting the probability of a census block being conducive to using neighborhood streets as the primary location of physical activity. Using the model and a cutpoint that maximized sensitivity and specificity, blocks and subsequently residential zones were classified as conducive to neighborhood PA or not. I examined the effect of the residential zone type on physical activity using a multi-level model with random effects.;Results. Few census variables, built environment measures, theoretical health behavior constructs, and demographic variables were significantly different across the two types of residential zones in the hypothesized direction. Residential zone type did not explain a significant amount of variance physical activity regardless of physical activity measure both before and after controlling for theoretical health behavior concepts and demographic variables.;Conclusions. The influence of the rural built environment of physical activity remains unclear. Future research recommendation include replicating this study in a larger, more diverse rural area and isolating the "susceptible" population, meaning those who are most likely to be influenced by the rural built environment. |
