Pathways from the campus-based built environment to obesity: Evidence from undergraduates in China

Abstract

Obesity is a global public health threat. Although studies have suggested that the built environment is related to obesity, scholars have paid less attention to the pathways from the built environment to young adults' obesity. To bridge this gap, we employed path analysis to examine whether food intake, exercise, and active travel mediate the association between the campus-based built environment and body mass index (BMI), based on a nationwide sample of 15,503 Chinese undergraduates mostly aged 18–23 years old. Our results showed that unhealthy food intake mediated the association. A higher number of points of interest, more green space, and fewer restaurants were negatively related to body mass index by inhibiting unhealthy food intake. Neither the duration of exercise nor active travel distance mediated the built environment-BMI association, although both were directly associated with the campus-based built environment. These findings suggest that improving the campus-based environment could contribute to a reduction in obesity risk among undergraduates by improving their diets.