Overweight and Obesity
Community Influences on Health Behaviors
Tracking Youth Activity and Diet
A study of 300 adolescent girls from the Minneapolis and San Diego sites of an earlier study (Trial of Activity of Adolescent Girls) that tracks their movements outside of school and home via portable GPS units and couples these data with self-reports of food purchases and consumption to identify how local environments may play a role in physical activity, diet, and body mass index.
Contact: Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org).Community Parks and Physical Activity
A randomized controlled study to examine how public parks influence physical activity and to determine whether population–level physical activity can be enhanced by involving communities in scientific and systematic park assessments to guide the modification of park programs and facilities.
Contact: Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org).Role of Parks and Recreational Facilities
A study to assess the impact on the physical activity and health of local residents of park improvements being made in Los Angeles, which is spending $25 million per year for 30 years to improve 183 local parks through Proposition K.
Contact: Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org).Neighborhoods, Behaviors, and Health Status
A study of how neighborhood characteristics affect and interact with individual behavior, such as physical activity and diet, and biology (as indicated by measures of allostatic load) to influence health status.
Contact: Chloe Bird, PhD (Chloe_Bird@rand.org)Role of Transit Systems and Health
A study of how population health (specifically, physical activity and body mass index) is affected before and after the introduction of a light rail transit system.
Contact: John MacDonald, PhD (John_MacDonald@rand.org) or Deborah Cohen, MD, MPH (Deborah_Cohen@rand.org).Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Purchasing, Home Availability, and Intake for Overweight Youth
Using the principles of community-based participatory research, a study to conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews with 60 overweight and obese youth and their caregivers to examine social-cognitive and environmental influences on purchasing, home availability, and intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Contact: Laura Bogart, PhD (Laura_Bogart@rand.org)
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