School Food and Physical Activity Environment: A Longitudinal Analysis of Four School Districts in New Jersey
Francesco Acciai, Michael Yedidia, Robin S. DeWeese, Sarah Martinelli, Punam Ohri-Vachaspati
2019
Purpose: Exposures to favorable environments in childhood, including those in schools, are associated with healthy habits among children. In this study, we developed a series of indices aimed at measuring students’ exposure to different dimensions of the school food and physical activity (PA) environment. We implemented these indices to investigate how different aspects of the school food and PA environment changed over time and examined their correspondence with known changes in relevant policies and programs.