title: Exploring associations between perceived home and work neighborhood environments, diet behaviors, and obesity: Results from a survey of employed adults in Missouri.
abstract: Dietary behaviors are associated with obesity, and may be influenced by the environment. The objective of the current work was to investigate whether perceptions of built environment factors related to eating in the residential neighborhood will have different, independent associations with BMI and dietary behaviors than perceived built environment factors in the worksite neighborhood. In 2012-2013, a cross-sectional telephone-survey of Missouri adults (n = 2015) assessed perceptions of home and workplace built environment factors related to eating, dietary behaviors, and height and weight. Logistic regression models explored associations between perceived neighborhood built environment variables, diet, and obesity. The only variable associated with any of the outcomes explored in the fully adjusted models was the home neighborhood composite scale. None of the work environment variables were significantly associated with any of the health/behavior outcomes after adjustment. Few associations were found after adjustment for personal and job-related characteristics, and none were identified with the workplace neighborhood environment. While few home environment associations were found after adjustment, and none were identified with the perceived workplace neighborhood environment, the current study adds to the limited literature looking at associations between the perceived neighborhood around the workplace neighborhood and the perceived neighborhood around the home and dietary behaviors and obesity in adults. Future studies are needed to determine whether relationships between these environments and behavior exist, and if so, if they are causal and warrant intervention attempts.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabak
authors.affiliation: Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, 5124 Jordan Hall, Campus Box 8004, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States.
authors.forename: J Aaron
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hipp
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Dodson
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1 Floor, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Center for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
authors.forename: Deepti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adlakha
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center in St. Louis, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Surgery and Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, United States.
authors.forename: Ross C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Brownson
keywords: Healthy eating; Home and worksite neighborhood; Obesity; Perceived built environment