Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study is to explore whether availability of sports facilities, parks, and neighbourhood social capital (NSC) and their interaction are associated with leisure time sports participation among Dutch adolescents.MethodsCross-sectional analyses were conducted on complete data from the last wave of the YouRAction evaluation trial. Adolescents (n = 852) completed a questionnaire asking for sports participation, perceived NSC and demographics. Ecometric methods were used to aggregate perceived NSC to zip code level. Availability of sports facilities and parks was assessed by means of geographic information systems within the zip-code area and within a 1600 meter buffer. Multilevel logistic regression analyses, with neighborhood and individual as levels, were conducted to examine associations between physical and social environmental factors and leisure time sports participation. Simple slopes analysis was conducted to decompose interaction effects.ResultsNSC was significantly associated with sports participation (OR: 3.51 (95%CI: 1.18;10.41)) after adjustment for potential confounders. Availability of sports facilities and availability of parks were not associated with sports participation. A significant interaction between NSC and density of parks within the neighbourhood area (OR: 1.22 (90%CI: 1.01;1.34)) was found. Decomposition of the interaction term showed that adolescents were most likely to engage in leisure time sports when both availability of parks and NSC were highest.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that leisure time sports participation is associated with levels of NSC, but not with availability of parks or sports facilities. In addition, NSC and availability of parks in the zip code area interacted in such a way that leisure time sports participation is most likely among adolescents living in zip code areas with higher levels of NSC, and higher availability of parks. Hence, availability of parks appears only to be important for leisure time sports participation when NSC is high.
Highlights
Sports participation among adolescents is a public health priority [1,2] and increases the likelihood of being physically active in adulthood [3]
Univariate analyses indicated that availability of parks and of sports facilities were not associated with leisure time (LT) sports participation (Table 1)
neighbourhood social capital (NSC) was positively associated with LT sports participation (OR: 3.69; 95%CI: 1.19;11.45) (Table 1)
Summary
Sports participation among adolescents is a public health priority [1,2] and increases the likelihood of being physically active in adulthood [3]. In order to promote sports participation, deeper understanding of the factors that are associated with sports participation among adolescents is needed. In this respect, environmental factors, such as the availability of sports facilities or living in a supportive social environment, are of particular interest, as environmental factors may have an influence on the behaviour of large groups of people. This study aims to study the social (i.e. Neighborhood Social Capital) and physical environment (i.e. availability of parks and sports facilities) simultaneously in relation to sports participation among Dutch adolescents. The aim of this study is to explore whether availability of sports facilities, parks, and neighbourhood social capital (NSC) and their interaction are associated with leisure time sports participation among Dutch adolescents
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