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Educational inequalities in TV viewing among older adults: a mediation analysis of ecological factors

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journal contribution
posted on 2013-01-01, 00:00 authored by K De Cocker, I De Bourdeaudhuij, Megan TeychenneMegan Teychenne, Sarah McNaughtonSarah McNaughton, Jo SalmonJo Salmon
Background
Television (TV) viewing, a prevalent leisure-time sedentary behaviour independently related to negative health outcomes, appears to be higher in less educated and older adults. In order to tackle the social inequalities, evidence is needed about the underlying mechanisms of the association between education and TV viewing. The present purpose was to examine the potential mediating role of personal, social and physical environmental factors in the relationship between education and TV viewing among Australian 55–65 year-old adults.

Methods

In 2010, self-reported data was collected among 4082 adults (47.6% men) across urban and rural areas of Victoria, for the Wellbeing, Eating and Exercise for a Long Life (WELL) study. The mediating role of personal (body mass index [BMI], quality of life), social (social support from family and friends, social participation at proximal level, and interpersonal trust, social cohesion, personal safety at distal level) and physical environmental (neighbourhood aesthetics, neighbourhood physical activity environment, number of televisions) factors in the association between education and TV viewing time was examined using the product-of-coefficients test of MacKinnon based on multilevel linear regression analyses (conducted in 2012).

Results
Multiple mediating analyses showed that BMI (p ≤ 0.01), personal safety (p < 0.001), neighbourhood aesthetics (p ≤ 0.01) and number of televisions (p ≤ 0.01) partly explained the educational inequalities in older adult’s TV viewing. No proximal social factors mediated the education-TV viewing association.

Conclusions

Interventions aimed to reduce TV viewing should focus on personal (BMI) and environmental (personal safety, neighbourhood aesthetics, number of televisions) factors, in order to overcome educational inequalities in sedentary behaviour among older adults.

History

Journal

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Volume

10

Issue

Article 138

Pagination

1 - 10

Publisher

BioMed Central

Location

London, UK

ISSN

1479-5868

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2013, BioMed Central