Racial/Ethnic Differences in Perceived Access, Environmental Barriers to Use, and Use of Community Parks

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Carlson, Susan A. ; Brooks, Joseph D. ; Brown, David R. ; Buchner, David M.
• Description:
  Introduction ; Community parks provide places for people to be physically active. Our objective was to determine how access to, barriers to use of, and use of community parks differ by race/ethnicity. ; Methods ; Analyses are based on a cross-sectional national sample of adults (N = 5,157) participating in the 2006 Health Styles mail survey. Community parks were defined as outdoor public areas within 10 miles or a 20-minute drive from where a person lives that include walking/bike paths, nature preserves, playgrounds, beaches, lakes, rivers, or similar places. ; Results ; Overall, 12% of respondents reported not having a community park. Among those with a community park, 14% reported personal safety concerns and 14% reported inadequate or poorly maintained facilities as barriers to park use. Race/ethnicity was not associated with park access; however, Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report barriers. Among those with access to a community park, 83% reported any park use in the previous year and, of these, 67% reported an active visit. Odds of any park use did not differ significantly by race/ethnicity. Odds of an active visit were significantly lower in non-Hispanic blacks than whites (odds ratio, 0.67) but did not significantly differ between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. ; Conclusions ; Parks are valuable community resources to all racial/ethnic groups. To promote and increase community park use, it is important to be aware that parks are used differently by different racial/ethnic groups and that barriers may differentially influence park use.
• Subjects:
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Environment
  • Ethnicity
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Life Style
  • Male
  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 7(3).
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/4171/cdc_4171_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 467.17 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:627cacc9352ea94e171e20b2e23eefb4241e74b45436bd30cc26af375d196e126e8499495dbfc77fef7713b474572e4b7b1835f4752856903c8dd6a791b2f75b