Children's outdoor playtime, physical activity, and parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the hours of outdoor play and objective measures of physical activity and identify the correlates of outdoor playing time in terms of parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment. Time spent in outdoor play, both on a typical weekday and a typical weekend day, and neighbourhood perceptions, was assessed by parental self-report for 889 students attending grades 5 and 6 in Toronto, Canada (mean age: 10.50 ± 0.72 years). Physical activity was assessed by accelerometry. Ordered logit models were estimated to explore the influence of neighbourhood perceptions on the time spent playing outdoors. Regardless of a child's age and sex, duration of play was significantly correlated with minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Parental concerns about strangers and fast drivers were inversely associated with duration of play on a typical weekday. Parental safety concerns continue to present a formidable barrier to greater outdoor play.

Keywords:

• play
• physical activity
• neighbourhood environment
• safety

Notes on contributor

Guy Faulkner is a Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Public Health Agency of Canada (CIHR-PHAC) Chair in Applied Public Health. Broadly, his research has focused on two interrelated themes: the development and evaluation of physical activity interventions; and physical activity and mental health.

Raktim Mitra is an Assistant Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University, Canada. His research focuses broadly on the interaction between the neighbourhood environment, active transportation and physical activity. Recent scholarly publications have explored various aspects of children's outdoor mobility and activity participation.

Ron Buliung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto Mississauga. His research focuses on the everyday lives of children and youth. He studies links between transport planning and policy, the built environment and children's health. He is a member of the international editorial board of the Journal of Transport Geography.

Caroline Fusco is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include children's play, geographies of sport, physical activity and cultural environments, feminist post-structuralist theories, (ab)uses of animals in sport, ethnography and qualitative methods. She loves cycling and walking in Toronto's urban park spaces with her dog and, of course, playing with her seven-year-old son.

Michelle Stone is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University. Her research expertise is in accelerometry-based physical activity measurement. She also has experience assessing physiological health outcomes (body composition, aerobic fitness, blood pressure and vascular health) and experience in built environment and physical activity research.