title: The relationship of perceived neighborhood social climate to walking in Hispanic older adults: a longitudinal, cross-lagged panel analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examines possible bidirectional relationships between neighborhood climate (i.e., perceived neighborhood social environment) and walking behavior across a 12-month period in older Hispanics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A population-based sample of 217 community-dwelling older Hispanics in Miami, Florida, completed measures of perceived neighborhood climate and neighborhood walking, at two assessment time points (12 months apart).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that neighborhood climate predicted subsequent walking 12 months later, such that more positive perceptions of neighborhood climate predicted more walking. Follow-up analyses revealed that older adults who resided in the top half of neighborhoods based on perceived neighborhood climate scores at initial assessment were 2.57 times as likely to have walked at least one block in the last week at follow-up, relative to older adults residing in neighborhoods whose climate was in the lower half.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Perceptions of a more positive neighborhood social environment may promote walking in urban, older Hispanics.
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Center for Family Studies, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA. sbrown@med.miami.edu
authors: Scott C
authors: SC
authors: Brown
authors: Shi
authors: S
authors: Huang
authors: Tatiana
authors: T
authors: Perrino
authors: Priyanka
authors: P
authors: Surio
authors: Raquel
authors: R
authors: Borges-Garcia
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Flavin
authors: C Hendricks
authors: CH
authors: Brown
authors: Hilda
authors: H
authors: Pantin
authors: José
authors: J
authors: Szapocznik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012931:Social Environment; D016138:Walking / Q000639:trends*