title: Path Analysis of Campus Walkability/Bikeability and College Students' Physical Activity Attitudes, Behaviors, and Body Mass Index.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the walkability/bikeability of college campuses and students' body mass index (BMI) with student physical activity (PA) attitudes and behaviors as potential mediators.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional.
  
  
  
  Thirteen university campuses.
  
  
  
  A total of 1384 student participants.
  
  
  
  Walkability/bikeability environmental score (ES): 12-item audit assessed an average of 44 path segments per campus. Students were measured for height and weight and completed online surveys. Physical activity stage of change/behavior intentions were assessed using the transtheoretical model. The Cognitive Behavioral Physical Activity Questionnaire assessed outcome expectations, self-regulation, and personal barriers. International Physical Activity Questionnaire assessed walking-, moderate-, and vigorous-intensity PA.
  
  
  
  Descriptive statistics, zero-order correlations, and path analysis with maximum likelihood estimation.
  
  
  
  The overall model fit was good with χ2of 171.388 ( df = 18), P < .001, comparative fit index value of .95, and a root mean square of approximation of .079. After controlling for gender, there was a direct negative association between walkability/bikeability ES and BMI (β = -.085) and positive association between personal barriers and BMI (β = .134). Walkability/bikeability ES was positively associated with walking-intensity PA (β = .010). Self-regulation was positively associated with moderate-intensity PA (β = .213), which, in turn, was negatively associated with BMI (β = -.057).
  
  
  
  The ease of walking and biking on a campus was related to college students' walking behavior and their BMI. Students' PA behavioral intentions were associated with moderate PA and lower BMI. These results provide evidence to focus on policies and structural supports for walkable/bikeable environments to supplement and enhance interventions encouraging individual behavior change for PA and weight management.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Tanya M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Horacek
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Child and Family Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA.|3 Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dede Yildirim
authors.affiliation: 4 Health and Nutritional Sciences Department, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kattelmann
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Nutrition Science, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, USA.|6 Extension Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: 7 Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Byrd-Bredbenner
authors.affiliation: 8 Department of Nutrition Science, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.|9 Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Colby
authors.affiliation: 10 Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.affiliation: 11 Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoerr
authors.affiliation: 12 Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.affiliation: 7 Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.|13 Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Koenings
authors.affiliation: 14 Department of Molecular, Cellular & Biomedical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morrell
authors.affiliation: 15 Division of Animal & Nutritional Sciences, School of Agriculture, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Olfert
authors.affiliation: 16 Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, USA (retired).
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: 17 Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shelnutt
authors.affiliation: 18 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001642:Bicycling; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055686:Metabolic Equivalent; D044469:Racial Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016138:Walking
keywords: built environment; college students; fitness; supportive environment; weight control