title: Educational inequalities in TV viewing among older adults: a mediation analysis of ecological factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Television (TV) viewing, a prevalent leisure-time sedentary behaviour independently related to negative health outcomes, appears to be higher in less educated and older adults. In order to tackle the social inequalities, evidence is needed about the underlying mechanisms of the association between education and TV viewing. The present purpose was to examine the potential mediating role of personal, social and physical environmental factors in the relationship between education and TV viewing among Australian 55-65 year-old adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2010, self-reported data was collected among 4082 adults (47.6% men) across urban and rural areas of Victoria, for the Wellbeing, Eating and Exercise for a Long Life (WELL) study. The mediating role of personal (body mass index [BMI], quality of life), social (social support from family and friends, social participation at proximal level, and interpersonal trust, social cohesion, personal safety at distal level) and physical environmental (neighbourhood aesthetics, neighbourhood physical activity environment, number of televisions) factors in the association between education and TV viewing time was examined using the product-of-coefficients test of MacKinnon based on multilevel linear regression analyses (conducted in 2012).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple mediating analyses showed that BMI (p ≤ 0.01), personal safety (p < 0.001), neighbourhood aesthetics (p ≤ 0.01) and number of televisions (p ≤ 0.01) partly explained the educational inequalities in older adult's TV viewing. No proximal social factors mediated the education-TV viewing association.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interventions aimed to reduce TV viewing should focus on personal (BMI) and environmental (personal safety, neighbourhood aesthetics, number of televisions) factors, in order to overcome educational inequalities in sedentary behaviour among older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium. katrien.decocker@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Katrien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Cocker
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Bourdeaudhuij
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Teychenne
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McNaughton
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salmon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011634:Public Health; D011998:Recreation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D057566:Self Report; D012931:Social Environment; D013690:Television