Associations among Outdoor Playtime, Screen Time, and Environmental Factors in Japanese Preschoolers: The ‘Eat, Be Active, and Sleep Well’ Study

Qiang Wang,Hiroko Sano,Shiho Kobayashi,Hyunshik Kim,Jiameng Ma,Kenji Harada

doi:10.3390/su132212499

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigated regional differences in outdoor playtime and screen time among preschool-age children in Japan, and their associations with environmental factors, in order to identify the modifiable determinants of the differences between urban and rural areas. Data were obtained from the “Eat, be active, and sleep well” study. Children from three (n = 872) and five (n = 744) kindergartens in urban and rural regions of Japan, respectively, who completed a questionnaire survey, were sampled. Finally, data from 1128 participants (age: 3–5 years) were analyzed. To assess the environmental factors, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used for neighborhood environments; the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire was used for physical home environments; and a three-item questionnaire was used for sociocultural environments. Outdoor activity was significantly associated with items related to the mother’s sedentary time and the number of siblings/friends in both urban and rural regions. Screen time was associated with the mother’s screen time, television in the room, and esthetic qualities, which were consistent between urban and rural regions, while screen time was associated with night-time crime rates and traffic in the urban region. Our study further bolsters evidence suggesting that outdoor playtime and screen time are strongly associated with various environmental factors among Japanese preschool-age children.

Highlights

Physical activity (PA) habits established in early childhood are reported to have a notable impact on the healthy growth and development of children [1]
The present study aimed to investigate regional differences in outdoor playtime and screen time among preschool-age children in Japan, and their associations with environmental factors, in order to identify the modifiable determinants of the differences between urban and rural areas
Our results show that outdoor activity was significantly associated with the “mother’s sedentary time” and “number of siblings/friends” items in both urban and rural regions

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) habits established in early childhood are reported to have a notable impact on the healthy growth and development of children [1]. In recent years, many children do not have adequate levels of healthy PA, as shown by their reduced outdoor playtime and increased screen time. Previous studies have shown that preschool-age children achieve more MVPA in outdoor play than in indoor play [4,5], and on the basis of these results, some studies have reported that increasing the outdoor playtime of preschoolage children can boost their daily PA level [6,7]. Periodic and adequate outdoor play is a key approach for PA in children [9], and an important factor that promotes physical, mental, and social development [10,11,12,13]. Time spent on outdoor play has shown a marked decline among children in Western countries, such as the United States, Australia, Canada, and The Netherlands, over the past few decades [14,15,16,17]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion