摘要：
美国研究人员最新公布的一项研究结果显示，青少年日常所处的周边环境可能会在一定程度上影响到他（她）日后是否会成为一个胖子，而且在邻里间联系密切的环境中，青少年比较不容易出现身体肥胖的情况。
The neighborhood an adolescent lives in may influence his or her development of obesity, new study findings suggest. Specifically, investigators found that adolescents from close-knit neighborhoods were less likely to be obese.

美国研究人员最新公布的一项研究结果显示，青少年日常所处的周边环境可能会在一定程度上影响到他（她）日后是否会成为一个胖子，而且在邻里间联系密切的环境中，青少年比较不容易出现身体肥胖的情况。

据路透社2月23日报道，，戴博拉·A·科恩是本次研究报告的作者，同时也是总部位于美国加利福尼亚州圣尼卡市的兰德公司的一名自然科学家。她在接受路透社记者采访时表示，"一个孩子日常活动量的大小、所吃食物的种类及数量与他（她）长期生活于其间的社区环境存在着密切的关系"。人与人之间联系紧密的邻里环境往往可以表现出很强的群体功效，使得邻里间和睦相处，并且普遍乐于助人。科恩说："或许真的有必要关注一下邻里环境，因为它可能会在有效遏制肥胖的快速蔓延方面起到非常重要的作用。"

此前进行的多项研究显示，某一社区内的群体功效水平高低可以在一定程度上预示出那里的犯罪率、过早死亡、心血管疾病死亡率等方面的情况。科恩和她的研究团队对于居住在美国加州洛杉矶县65个社区内的684个家庭进行了调查，调查对象包括807名青少年和3000名成年人。从调查结果来看，与群体功效水平高的社区里的同伴相比，那些生活在群体功效水平较低的社区里的青少年出现体重超标的危险性要比前者高出64％，即使与那些生活在群体功效水平正常的社区里的同龄人相比，这种危险性也会高出52％。

基于此项研究结果，科恩指出，"我们需要从现在开始仔细审视自己所处的环境"，比如可以在社区内成立体育队或是为孩子们建造一个可以尽情玩耍的公园。她说，"只要大家齐心协力，就一定能够改变现有的环境，使其变得更加有益于人们的身心健康。"

（国际在线独家资讯 张咏）

本稿件为国际在线专稿，媒体转载请注明稿件来源和译者姓名。

The neighborhood an adolescent lives in may influence his or her development of obesity, new study findings suggest. Specifically, investigators found that adolescents from close-knit neighborhoods were less likely to be obese.

Close-knit neighborhoods exhibited strong collective efficacy -- neighbors get along and are willing to help each other, and many adults are role models for adolescents.

"There is an obesity epidemic in this country and treatment has focused on diet and exercise with relatively little success," study author Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, a senior natural scientist at the Santa Monica, California-based RAND Corporation, said in a company statement. 　

The current findings imply that it may be necessary to "look at the neighborhood environment as potentially very important in controlling the obesity epidemic," she told Reuters Health.

"The social environment that a child lives in is very strongly associated with how active they are, what they eat and how much they eat," she said.]

Previous studies show that a neighborhood's level of collective efficacy is predictive of crime, premature death, death from cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes. In a survey of 684 households in 65 Los Angeles County neighborhoods, Cohen and her team investigated whether collective efficacy may also indirectly affect factors related to obesity. The study included 807 adolescences and 3000 adults.

Cohen's group found that adolescents who lived in neighborhoods with high levels of collective efficacy were also less likely to be overweight or at risk for overweight and had a lower body mass index -- a ratio of weight to height -- than did their peers in other neighborhoods.

Adolescents in low-collective efficacy neighborhoods, on the other hand, were 64 percent more likely to be at-risk-for-overweight and 52 percent more likely to be overweight than those living in neighborhoods with an average level of collective efficacy, the researchers report in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

In fact, collective efficacy was more important in predicting obesity than the ethnic or racial make-up of the neighborhood, or the income of its residents, Cohen noted.

The reason for the association is unknown, but Cohen speculated that children in neighborhoods with high collective efficacy may be more likely to play outside rather than sit inside and watch television. Or, she said, "maybe (their) neighborhoods look different," with more parks and fewer fast food restaurants.

Based on the findings, "we need to start looking at our environments," she said, and ask: "Are there places for kids to play? Billboard advertisements for fast foods?"

Citing the potential for neighborhood groups to create a sports league or get a park for children to play in, she said, "together people can change their environment and make it healthy."

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