The relationship between children’s third-place play, parental neighbourhood perceptions, and children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics (N = 856).

	Number or Mean (% or min-max)
Demographic variables
Children’s sex: Male	409 (47.8%)
Female	447 (52.2%)
Children’s age	10.7 (8–13)
Children’s ethnicity: New Zealand European	351 (41.0%)
Māori	107 (12.5%)
Pacific Island	123 (14.4%)
Asian	120 (14.0%)
Other	155 (18.1%)
Dwelling type: House	659 (77.0%)
Other (e.g. flat, apartment, units)	197 (23.0%)
NZDep2013: Decile 1 (least deprived area)	57 (6.7%)
2	184 (21.5%)
4	66 (7.7%)
5	10 (1.2%)
6	118 (13.8%)
8	70 (8.2%)
9	196 (22.9%)
Decile 10 (most deprived area)	155 (18.1%)
Third-place play:
Near-home green place: Played there	675 (78.9%)
Did not play there	181 (21.1%)
Near-home street place: Played there	611 (71.4%)
Did not play there	245 (28.6%)
Public open space near home: Played there	356 (41.6%)
Did not play there	222 (25.9%)
Did not answer	278 (32.5%)
Public in-door space near home: Played there	186 (21.7%)
Did not play there	392 (45.8%)
Did not answer	278 (32.5%)
Parental perceptions of neighbourhood
Perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion	3.72 (1.78–5.00)
Perceptions of neighbourhood connection	3.65 (1.60–5.00)

Table 2. Association between demographics, third-place play, parental neighbourhood perceptions and children’s time spent in SB, LPA and MVPA.

	Time spent in SB^a (Model 1)			Time spent in LPA^b (Model 2)			Time spent in MVPA^c (Model 3)
Effect	Estimate	S.E.	P-value	Estimate	S.E.	P-value	Estimate	S.E.	P-value
Intercept	0.811	0.147	<.0001	−1.205	0.044	<.0001	−3.229	0.222	<.0001
Child ethnicity: Asian vs NZ Euro	0.045	0.049	0.3650	0.003	0.043	0.9484	−0.173	0.074	0.0196
Māori vs NZ Euro	−0.092	0.053	0.0793	0.121	0.044	0.0062	0.153	0.072	0.0333
Other vs NZ Euro	−0.139	0.042	0.0009	0.159	0.038	<.0001	0.021	0.064	0.7495
Pacific vs NZ Euro	−0.195	0.051	0.0002	0.218	0.041	<.0001	0.207	0.067	0.0020
Child sex: Male vs Female	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			0.259	0.046	<.0001
Child age	0.029	0.013	0.0235	(Not included in final model)			−0.069	0.020	0.0006
Dwelling type: House vs Other	0.086	0.035	0.0154	−0.090	0.032	0.0056	(Not included in final model)
NZ Deprivation index	−0.012	0.006	0.0485	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)
Near home green place	−0.082	0.037	0.0277	0.074	0.034	0.0302	(Not included in final model)
Near home street place	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			0.161	0.052	0.0021
Public open place near home	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)
Public in-door place near home	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)
Perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)
Perceptions of neighbourhood connection	(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)			(Not included in final model)
Scale parameter	25.671	1.228		32.579	1.558		72.389	3.698

^a SB = sedentary behaviour.

^b LPA = light-intensity physical activity.

^c MVPA = moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Table 3. Associations between demographics, parental neighbourhood perceptions and children’s third-place play.

	Near home green place (n = 880)			Near home street place (n = 880)			Public open near home (n = 611)			Public in-door place near home (n = 753)
Effect	Estimate	S.E.	P-value	Estimate	S.E.	P-value	Estimate	S.E.	P-value	Estimate	S.E.	P-value
Intercept	0.615	0.917	0.502	0.078	0.410	0.850	−0.079	0.568	0.890	−0.474	0.151	0.002
Child age	−0.146	0.069	0.035
Dwelling type: House vs Other	0.848	0.286	0.003							−0.311	0.176	0.078
Perception of neighbourhood cohesion
Perception of neighbourhood of connection	0.385	0.120	0.001	0.225	0.111	0.043

Note: Child ethnicity, sex and NZ Deprivation index were not significant.