Dr. Klazine van der Horst defended her thesis today on the exploration of environmental determinants of overweight and energy-balance behaviours in Dutch youth. Het thesis is based on the ENDORSE (environmental determinants of obesity related behaviors in Rotterdam schoolchildren) study. This study is one of the first to systematically explore potential school environment, neighbourhood environment, family environment and personal correlates of behaviours that may induce unnecessary weight gain among adolescents. Her studies indicate that social environmental influences, especially parental influences such as food and physical activity related parenting practices and parental modelling behaviour, may be more important than physical environmental factors, i.e. factors related to availability and accessibility of healthy food and physical activity options.
It is very likely that the present-day obesity epidemic is caused by changes in the physical environment, i.e. changes towards an overabundant accessibility of energy-dense foods and towards a lack of unavoidable or necessary daily physical activities. However, in this physical environment, it appears that other factors, such as social environmental influences, now discriminate between young people who engage more or less in obesogenic behaviours.
The published papers included in Klazine's thesis are:
van der Horst K, Oenema A, Te Velde SJ, Brug J. Gender, ethnic and school type differences in overweight and energy balance-related behaviours among Dutch adolescents.
Int J Pediatr Obes. 2009 May 15:1-10. [Epub ahead of print]
Bere E, van der Horst K, Oenema A, Prins R, Brug J. Socio-demographic factors as correlates of active commuting to school in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Prev Med. 2008 Jul 8. [Epub ahead of print]
van der Horst K, Timperio A, Crawford D, Roberts R, Brug J, Oenema A.The school food environment associations with adolescent soft drink and snack consumption.
Am J Prev Med. 2008 Sep;35(3):217-23. Epub 2008 Jul 10.
van der Horst K, Oenema A, van de Looij-Jansen P, Brug J. The ENDORSE study: research into environmental determinants of obesity related behaviors in Rotterdam schoolchildren.
BMC Public Health. 2008 Apr 28;8:142.
Ferreira I, van der Horst K, Wendel-Vos W, Kremers S, van Lenthe FJ, Brug J. Environmental correlates of physical activity in youth - a review and update.
Obes Rev. 2007 Mar;8(2):129-54. Review.
Kremers SP, van der Horst K, Brug J. Adolescent screen-viewing behaviour is associated with consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages: the role of habit strength and perceived parental norms.
Appetite. 2007 May;48(3):345-50. Epub 2006 Nov 28.
van der Horst K, Kremers S, Ferreira I, Singh A, Oenema A, Brug J. Perceived parenting style and practices and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by adolescents.
Health Educ Res. 2007 Apr;22(2):295-304. Epub 2006 Aug 14.
van der Horst K, Oenema A, Ferreira I, Wendel-Vos W, Giskes K, van Lenthe F, Brug J. A systematic review of environmental correlates of obesity-related dietary behaviors in youth.Health Educ Res. 2007 Apr;22(2):203-26. Epub 2006 Jul 21. Review.
