Assessing the effects of Children's independent mobility range and time

Abstract

IntroductionPrevious studies provide evidence that associations between different factors and children's independent mobility (CIM). In these studies, no difference between CIM range and time whereas have been difference between CIM range and time and attitudes of children and parents. Roles of different factors, including gender haven't been also proven with CIM time and range. Therefore, sought to determine impact assessment of socio-demographic, built-environmental and perceptual characteristics with CIM time and range varied by sex. MethodsThe present study measured the longest distance of each child from house as CIM range (meter) and the CIM time was calculated based on the weekly activity programs of children (minutes). Research were conduct in Ilam, Iran and 102 twelve-to-fourteen-year-old children and their parent were studied (N = 204). ResultsResults of multivariate regression indicated that the CIM time was affected by parents' perception and equal between girls and boys (32 min) despite the fact that parents' fear of crime against girls was higher than boys'. The CIM range was highly dependent on built-environmental characteristics and boys' CIM range (216 m) was greater than girls’ (159 m). ConclusionsVertical development of housing, parents' fear and sex differences were the most important factors in reducing the CIM.