Adults’ motivation for bringing their children to park playgrounds

Abstract

Children's independent access to the outdoors is often restricted by parents, making young children dependent on adult motivation for visits. Since access to play in nature can be beneficial to children's development and health, this study examines the accompanying adults’ motivational factors for bringing their children to playgrounds in urban green spaces. The study used on-site questionnaires to collect data in six public park playgrounds in the U.S. and Denmark, to reveal cultural similarities and differences.The results show that the respondents have different motivations for going to a park playground. The Danish respondents find it most important to be together with their children, while the American respondents find it most important that their children are physically active whilst being there. Other results show that different factors can influence both frequency of visits and length of stays. For Danish respondents, location is very important. Pleasing green surroundings and a nearby location tends to result in more frequent visits. All respondents stay longer and visit more often if they like the social atmosphere of the playground. However, male respondents, who are more active with their children than female respondents, have shorter stays if they dislike the variety of play equipment.Based on the results of this paper, suggestions are made as to how designers, planners and park managers can implement the results into practice, with the aim of increasing adults’ motivation for taking their children to park playgrounds.