Premium
Are People Living in Walkable Areas Healthier and More Satisfied with Life?
Author(s) -
Oishi Shigehiro,
Saeki Masao,
Axt Jordan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
applied psychology: health and well‐being
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.276
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1758-0854
pISSN - 1758-0846
DOI - 10.1111/aphw.12058
Subject(s) - metropolitan area , marital status , walkability , geography , environmental health , multilevel model , behavioral risk factor surveillance system , gerontology , psychology , medicine , physical activity , population , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Are people who live in more walkable areas healthier and more satisfied with life? This study investigates that question by using the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System ( BRFSS ) survey, the largest telephone survey on health in the US (302,841 respondents from 989 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas [ MSA ]; 177,524 respondents from 703 MSA s had complete data). Using multilevel random coefficient modeling, we found that people living in walkable areas reported being generally healthier than people living in less walkable areas. In addition, aside from higher self‐reported health, people living in walkable areas also had a lower body mass index ( BMI ). However, contrary to our prediction, people in more walkable areas were less satisfied with their lives than people in less walkable areas after controlling for various individual‐level variables (age, gender, race, education, marital status, income, and unemployment). People who live in walkable areas are healthier but not happier than those living in less walkable areas.