dc.contributor.author | Ambrey, CL | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-05T03:05:43Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-07-05T03:05:43Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0033-3506 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1016/j.puhe.2015.11.013 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/101818 | |
dc.description.abstract | Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the synergy between greenspace and
physical activity and its implications for well-being. In particular, how this synergy may
depend on population size in the neighborhood.
Study design: Cross-sectional analysis of resident-level responses from the Household,
Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey for 2013 subset to Australia's
major capital cities and linked to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data.
Methods: GIS data on greenspace and Australian Bureau of Statistics data on population size
for the neighborhood are matched to the residents in the HILDA survey on the basis of the
Census Collection District in which they reside. A cluster-specific fixed effects model is
estimated for the outcomes of mental health and psychological distress. A battery of sociodemographic
and location characteristics were also adjusted for. Interaction terms are used
to discern the extent to which population size may moderate any synergistic well-being
benefits associated with physical activity and greenspace. This question is ultimately operationalized
as a three-way interaction effect (greenspace physical activity population
size).
Results: The results indicate that physical activity is most strongly and positively associated
with mental health (statistically significant at the 1% level), with an estimated coefficient of
0.6307. The results also reveal that physical activity is negatively associated with psychological
distress (statistically significant at the 10% level), with an estimated coefficient
of 0.2447. Unexpectedly, for both mental health and psychological distress the greenspace
and population variables are not found to have separate statistically significant
effects.
Furthermore, while the results fail to find, on average, the hypothesized synergy
between greenspace and physical activity, a closer inspection reveals that this link may
depend on the population size of a neighborhood. The interaction term for greenspace,
physical activity and population bears a coefficient estimate of 0.0033, statistically significant
at the 5% level in the mental health regression and a coefficient of 0.0032, statistically
significant at the 1% level in the psychological distress regression.
Conclusion: The results indicate that physical activity is linked differently to mental health
and psychological distress. The results initially provide no evidence of the hypothesized greenspaceephysical activity synergy. The results provide evidence that this synergy is
greater in more populated neighborhoods. | |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Yes | |
dc.language | English | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.publisher | Elsevier | |
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom | 38 | |
dc.relation.ispartofpageto | 44 | |
dc.relation.ispartofjournal | Public Health | |
dc.relation.ispartofvolume | 133 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Health services and systems | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Public health | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 4203 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 4206 | |
dc.title | Greenspace, physical activity and well-being in Australian capital cities: How does population size moderate the relationship? | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
dc.type.description | C1 - Articles | |
dc.type.code | C - Journal Articles | |
gro.hasfulltext | No Full Text | |
gro.griffith.author | Ambrey, Christopher L. | |