Development and validation of the neighborhood environment walkability scale for youth across six continents

Cerin, Ester; Conway, Terry L.; Barnett, Anthony; Smith, Melody; Veitch, Jenny; Cain, Kelli L.; Salonna, Ferdinand; Reis, Rodrigo S.; Molina-García, Javier; Hinckson, Erica; Muda, Wan Abdul Manan Wan; Anjana, Ranjit Mohan; van Dyck, Delfien; Oyeyemi, Adewale L.; Timperio, Anna; Christiansen, Lars Breum; Mitáš, Josef; Mota, Jorge; Moran, Mika; Islam, Mohammed Zakiul; Mellecker, Robin R.; Sallis, James F.

doi:10.1186/s12966-019-0890-6

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Table 3 Final country-specific measurement models of the NEWS-Y-IPEN

From: Development and validation of the neighborhood environment walkability scale for youth across six continents

	Country
	Australia	Belgium	Brazil	Hong Kong SAR	India	Malaysia	New Zealand*	Nigeria	Spain	USA
Factors and items	Standardized factor loadings
Accessibility and walking facilities (AW)
AW1. Hilly streets make it difficult to walk in the neighborhood	− 0.38	− 0.35	− 0.31	− 0.31	− 0.28	−0.31	− 0.25	− 0.29	− 0.34	− 0.34
AW2. Less cul-de-sacs in the neighborhood	0.29	0.36	0.37	0.36	0.31	0.39	0.24	0.33	0.39	0.32
AW3. Many different routes for getting from place to place in our neighborhood	0.52	0.48	0.26	0.53	0.33	0.36	0.32	0.42	0.40	0.41
AW4. Presence of sidewalks on most of the streets	0.46	0.92	0.54	0.57	0.84	0.78	0.53	0.71	0.70	0.89
AW5. Sidewalks separated from the road / traffic by parked cars	0.56	0.70	0.36	0.30	0.76	0.50	0.42	0.72	0.53	0.64
Traffic safety (TS)
TS1. Difficult/unpleasant to walk due to traffic in the neighborhood	−0.68	−0.73	−0.55	−0.40	−0.85	−0.47	−0.43	− 0.49	− 0.60	− 0.55
TS2. Speed of traffic usually slow (30 mph)	0.34	0.34	0.41	0.38	0.44	0.34	0.32	0.58	0.63	0.47
TS3. Drivers drive faster than speed limit	−0.30	−0.48	−0.39	− 0.51	−0.39	− 0.58	−0.43	− 0.71	−0.58	− 0.37
Pedestrian infrastructure and safety (PI)
PI1. Good lighting at night	0.36	0.43	0.47	0.60	0.37	0.50	0.55	0.48	0.36	0.64
PI2. Easy view of walkers / bikers from houses	0.39	0.41	0.36	0.41	0.43	0.68	0.40	0.38	0.65	0.59
PI3. Crosswalks and signals to cross busy streets	0.60	0.75	0.43	0.59	0.36	0.51	0.31	0.52	0.58	0.62
Safety from crime (CR)
CR1. Fear of child being hurt by a stranger when alone outside around the home	−0.72	−0.89	−0.92	−0.91	−0.85	−0.78	−0.77	− 0.76	−0.84	− 0.66
CR2. Fear of child being hurt by a stranger when with a friend outside around the home	−0.73	− 0.91	−0.86	− 0.95	−0.96	− 0.90	−0.77	− 0.94	−0.92	− 0.57
CR3. Fear of child being hurt by a stranger when walking alone or with a friend in local streets	−0.98	− 0.95	−0.47	− 0.94	−0.77	− 0.87	−0.84	− 0.95	−0.97	− 0.94
CR4. Fear of child being hurt by a stranger when alone or with a friend in local park	−0.85	− 0.82	−0.32	− 0.91	−0.61	− 0.81	−0.72	− 0.87	−0.90	− 0.78
Aesthetics (AE)
AE1. Interesting things to look at	0.90	0.77	0.76	0.63	0.76	0.78	0.70	0.54	0.70	0.78
AE2. Beautiful natural things to look at	0.88	0.59	0.66	0.83	0.82	0.74	0.78	0.73	0.65	0.85
AE3. Buildings / homes nice to look at	0.71	0.75	0.40	0.64	0.51	0.63	0.56	0.65	0.69	0.67
Average absolute inter-factor correlation	0.29	0.23	0.30	0.20	0.11	0.24	0.17	0.11	0.26	0.19
# of significant inter-factor correlations	8	7	8	6	4	6	5	2	9	5
Maximum absolute inter-factor correlation: pairs of factors	0.60	0.68	0.76	0.61	0.34	0.60	0.47	0.75	0.54	0.63
	TS-AE	AW-PI	AW-PI	AW-PI	AW-PI	TS-CR	TS-PI	PI-AE	TS-PI	AW-PI
Pairs of inter-correlated error items	3	3	1	1	2	4	0	0	0	1

Notes. NEWS-Y-IPEN = Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for Youth for the IPEN Adolescent study. ^aNew Zealand collected NEWS-Y-IPEN data from adolescents only. Thus, for New Zealand, confirmatory factor analyses were performed on adolescent data, while for the other countries they were performed using parents’ data

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ISSN: 1479-5868

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