Community and Child Energy Balance: The Relationship between Neighborhood Environments and the Risk of Obesity and Physical Activity

Lori Kowaleski-Jones, University of Utah

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for a range of health problems. In the United States, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has been steadily rising among every segment of the U.S. population. To alter this trend, strategies and programs for weight maintenance and weight reduction have become a high public health priority in the recent decade. This paper investigates the connections between neighborhood characteristics and obesity and physical activity among children in the 2003 and 2004 continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).