The reduced ability to exercise and the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in students have recently become serious health concerns. Decreased physical activity in students is cited as a factor in these problems. Governmental agencies have promoted improvement of the regional environment in order to encourage physical activity in students. However, there is insufficient quantitative verification of the regional environmental factors that affect the physical activity of students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the regional environment and physical activity in students, using a questionnaire survey and actual measurements of physical activity.
A questionnaire survey was conducted for more than 300 teachers across 13 elementary schools to evaluate the satisfaction with the natural environment, the public security, the facilities for communication and the public facilities of each school district. Also, a measurement survey was conducted in the same public schools in Kawasaki city and data were obtained from 702 students aged 10-11 years old across 13 school districts. During a week of September to November 2014, the number of walking steps of each student was measured by a pedometer, HJ326F and HJA-350IT (OMRON).
1) Impact of the regional environment on physical activity
Using the results of a questionnaire survey and actual measurements of physical activity, we conducted the multi-level model analysis in order to clarify the impact of the regional environment on physical activity of students in taking account of individual attributes. As a result, for school regions where the satisfaction with the natural environment and the public security were high, the number of walking steps on weekdays exceeded those where the satisfaction was lower. According to the multi-level model analysis, the regional average number of steps increased by about 300 for every 1pt increase in the satisfaction score of the natural environment and the public security.
2) Relation between satisfaction with neighborhood environments and land use
Although we examined the relationship between the satisfaction with neighborhood environment and physical activity in students, a concrete factor which increases such satisfaction with regional environment was unclear. Therefore, we carried out a correlation analysis between the satisfaction score of neighborhood environments and the land use and the zoning of the regions. The satisfaction score of the natural environment of a region was correlated with the proportion of a forested region. We also examined the negative correlation between the satisfaction with natural environment and the proportion of a dense low storied building area.
In conclusion, the result of this study confirmed a relationship between regional environment and physical activity in students and showed the significance value of the natural environment, the public security and the facilities for communication to encourage physical activity in students.
