Social, cognitive, behavioural and neighbourhood characteristics associated with sedentary time in men and women living in deprived neighbourhoods

Background
Multiple individual and neighbourhood characteristics are theorised to influence adult sedentary behaviour. The aim of this study was to examine associations between individual and neighbourhood-level characteristics in forty deprived neighbourhoods in London, UK.
Methods
A cross-sectional design was utilised with baseline data from the Well London Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial in forty deprived neighbourhoods in London. Multilevel linear regression was used to examine associations between individual characteristics (measured by household survey), neighbourhood characteristics (neighbourhood audit, GIS and routinely available datasets) and sedentary behaviour (sitting time).
Results
Individual-level positive mental wellbeing and health behaviours were associated with sedentary time. Individual-level social networks were associated with increased sedentary time in men and reduced sedentary time in women. Neighbourhood-level measures of social networks and perceived neighbourhood quality were associated with reduced sedentary time. Fifteen percent of the variance in sedentary time was attributable to differences at the neighbourhood-level (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.15).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that social networks at the individual and neighbourhood-levels, collective perceptions of neighbourhood quality, individual-level positive mental wellbeing and other health behaviours may be important components of interventions developed to reduce sedentary time in deprived populations.