# Identifying and Disentangling Social and Physical Environmental Effects on Physical Activity in Diverse Adolescent and Young Adult Populations

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $151,156

## Abstract

Identifying and disentangling social and physical environmental effects on physical activity in diverse adolescent and
 young adult populations
PROJECT SUMMARY AND ABSTRACT
The purpose of this K01 award is to provide developmental support to Dr. Leah Frerichs to become an independent
investigator in youth-engaged research using mobile technology and systems science methods to disentangle and
address social and physical environment influences on physical activity. Physical activity levels dramatically decrease in
adolescence and young adulthood. During these developmental periods, emerging evidence indicates the social and
physical environment plays a critical role in shaping physical activity behaviors. However, we have a critical gap in
disentangling the effects of different social processes (friendship initiation based on behaviors and similarities versus
adoption of friend’s behaviors) and shared exposures to exogenous influences such as activity-promoting built
environment features on activity behaviors, especially among African American youth in rural, low-income communities.
Teasing apart these intertwined environmental influences requires high-validity, fine-grained, longitudinal data on real-
time changes in youth’s social networks, environmental exposures and activity behaviors. With this K01, Dr. Frerichs will
build on her experience in community-based research and systems science to obtain formal didactic and hands-on
instruction in longitudinal social network and spatial analysis methods, processing and analysis of accelerometry data,
mobile technology data collection methods, development of network- and mobile-based intervention strategies, and
social and behavioral research ethics and responsible conduct in research. The proposed studies include a secondary
analysis of rich data collected using sensors embedded in smartphones that provided real-time objective data on social
interactions, geo-coded location data, and physical activity levels among college students. Dr. Frerichs will use the
findings and experience from the secondary analysis to inform a primary data collection study with adolescent youth in a
rural, African American population. With these data and advanced network modeling techniques, we will examine
unanswered questions about networks, environments, and behavior. How much does your peers’ activity influence your
own activity? Or do your activity behaviors determine who your peers are? And do the spaces where you interact with
your peers influence your activity levels? Furthermore, we will examine these questions across critical adolescence to
young adult populations, including within a rural African American community where we have critical research gaps.
Finally, Dr. Frerichs will use innovative youth-engaged and participatory systems science methods to translate the
findings into new social and physical environment intervention strategies. The proposed training and expert mentoring
team will provide Dr. Frerichs w...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9980983
- **Project number:** 5K01HL138159-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Leah M. Frerichs
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $151,156
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9980983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9980983, Identifying and Disentangling Social and Physical Environmental Effects on Physical Activity in Diverse Adolescent and Young Adult Populations (5K01HL138159-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9980983. Licensed CC0.

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