Physical activity behaviors and neighborhood walkability perceptions of Turkish women in low and high socio-economic environments

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2010

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Yıldırım, Gülşen

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PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIORS AND NEIGHBORHOOD WALKABILITY PERCEPTIONS OF TURKISH WOMEN IN LOW AND HIGH SOCIO-ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTS Yıldırım, Gülsen M.S., Department of Physical Education and Sports Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Levent nce September 2010, 65 pages The purposes of this study were to compare (a) the physical activity (PA) levels, (b) exercise stages of change levels and (c) neighborhood walkability perceptions of Turkish women who are living in Low and High socio-economic (SES) environments. Initially, Low SES and High SES neighborhoods in Ankara were identified by using the classification of Turkish Statistical Institute. Participants were randomly selected 394 women (Low SES=188, High SES=206) between the ages of 18-65 living in these neighborhoods. For data collection, International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ); Physical Activity Stages of Change Questionnaire (PASCQ), and Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale- Abbreviated (NEWS-A) were used. Descriptive statistics, nonparametric statistical methods (Mann Whitney U test, Pearson chi-square test) and MANOVA were used for the data analysis. According to the IPAQ results, there was no significant difference in walking and vigorous levels by women’s neighborhood SES (p>0.05). However; moderate and total PA level of women living in High SES neighborhoods were significantly higher than the related levels of women living in Low SES neighborhoods (p<0.05). The results on exercise stages of change levels indicated that the women in Low SES neighborhoods had a higher percentage at precontemplation stage than those of women in High SES neighborhoods (p<0.05). On he other hand, a higher percentage of women in High SES neighborhoods were at maintenance stage (p<0.05). NEWS-A results revealed that there were significant differences in women’s neighborhood walkability perception by their neighborhood SES, Wilk’s = .33, F (8,382) = 97.57, p < .05, 2 = .67. According to further univariate analyses, there were significant differences in all NEWS-A subscales by neighborhood SES in favor of High SES neighborhood, except for the “pedestrian/traffic safety” subscale (p<0.05). There were no significant difference in pedestrian/traffic safety scale by neighborhood SES (p>0.05). In conclusion, women who live in Low SES neighborhood have a higher risk of physical inactivity.Moreover, perceptions of neighborhood environment for the promotion and support of PA were lower in Low SES neighborhood residents as compared to their High SES neighborhood counterparts. Intervention programs for women living in these areas should be provided by considering their PA level, exercise stages of change level and neighborhood walkability perceptions.

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http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612446/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/19970

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

G. Yıldırım, “Physical activity behaviors and neighborhood walkability perceptions of Turkish women in low and high socio-economic environments,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2010.