Neighborhood environmental attributes have been found to be associated with residents' time spent walking and in physical activity, in studies from single countries and in multiple-country investigations. There are, however, mixed findings on such environmental relationships with sedentary (sitting) time, which primarily have used evidence derived from single-country investigations with self-reported behavioral outcome measures. We examined potential relationships of neighborhood environmental attributes with objectively-assessed sedentary time using data from 5712 adults recruited from higher and lower socio-economic status neighborhoods in 12 sites in 10 countries, between 2002 and 2011. Ten perceived neighborhood attributes, derived from an internationally-validated scale, were assessed by questionnaire. Sedentary time was derived from hip-worn accelerometer data. Associations of individual environmental attributes and a composite environmental index with sedentary time were estimated using generalized additive mixed models. In fully adjusted models, higher street connectivity was significantly related to lower sedentary time. Residential density, pedestrian infrastructure and safety, and lack of barriers to walking were related to higher sedentary time. Aesthetics and safety from crime were related to less sedentary time in women only. The predicted difference in sedentary time between those with the minimum versus maximum composite environmental index values was 71 min/day. Overall, certain built environment attributes, including street connectivity, land use mix and aesthetics were found to be related to sedentary behavior in both expected and unexpected directions. Further research using context-specific measures of sedentary time is required to improve understanding of the potential role of built environment characteristics as influences on adults' sedentary behavior.

Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Melbourne Australia; Faculty of Sport Sciences Waseda University Saitama Japan

Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Melbourne Australia; Swinburne University of Technology Melbourne Australia

Centre for Research and Action in Public Health University of Canberra Canberra Australia

Department of Family and Preventive Medicine University of California San Diego USA

Department of Health Sciences Public University of Navarra Pamplona Spain

Department of Movement and Sport Sciences Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Department of Physiotherapy University of Maiduguri Maiduguri Nigeria

Department of Sport Sciences and Clinical Biomechanics University of Southern Denmark Odense Denmark

Faculty of Physical Culture Palacký Universitsy Olomouc Czech Republic

Human Potential Centre Auckland University of Technology Auckland New Zealand

Institute of Human Performance The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China

Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research Australian Catholic University Melbourne Australia

Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research Australian Catholic University Melbourne Australia; Department of Family and Preventive Medicine University of California San Diego USA

School of Health and Biosciences Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Parana Curitiba Brazil; Division of Public Health Sciences Washington University School of Medicine St Louis USA

Universidad de los Andes Department of Public Health School of Medicine Bogotá Colombia

Washington University in St Louis Brown School Prevention Research Center St Louis Missouri USA; Center for Nutrition and Health Research National Institute of Public Health Cuernavaca Morelos Mexico

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Do physical activity and sedentary time mediate the association of the perceived environment with BMI? The IPEN adult study