Abstract
It is important to understand the correlates of children’s physical activity (PA) and sitting at home, where children spend significant time. The home social environment has an important influence; however, much less is known about the home physical environment. Therefore, the study aimed to assess relationships between the physical environment and children’s sitting and PA at home. In total, 235 child-parent dyads were included in the analyses. Children spent 67% of their time at home sitting. Linear regression analyses examined associations between physical home environmental factors obtained via an audit and children’s (55% girl, 10.2 ± 0.7) objective PA and sitting at home. Following adjustment for socio-demographics and social environmental factors, an open plan living area (OPLA), musical instrument accessibility and availability, and perceived house size were negatively and positively associated, whereas media equipment accessibility and availability was positively and negatively associated with sitting and standing, respectively. Additionally, an OPLA was positively associated with total and moderate-to-vigorous PA. Furthermore, sitting breaks were positively associated with objective garden size and negatively associated with digital TV. The physical home environment may have an important influence on children’s sitting, standing and PA at home; therefore, interventions that target this environment are needed.
Highlights
The importance of physical activity (PA) for children’s physiological and psychological health has been well documented [1], yet few meet current moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)recommendations [2]
(69%) and on average thought it was ‘important’ for their child to engage in active play at home, their child and themselves enjoyed sedentary and PA activities at home ‘about equal’ and ‘strongly agreed’ that their child had enough space to play inside the house and in the back garden
The results suggest that some aspects of physical home environment may have an important influence on children’s sitting, standing and PA at home, even after adjusting for socio demographic and social environmental factors
Summary
The importance of physical activity (PA) for children’s physiological and psychological health has been well documented [1], yet few meet current moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)recommendations [2]. The importance of physical activity (PA) for children’s physiological and psychological health has been well documented [1], yet few meet current moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Children spend most of their discretionary time in sedentary behaviours (7–8 h daily) [3], defined as ‘any waking activity, in a sitting, lying or reclining posture with an energy-expenditure below 1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs)’ [4]. Screen-time is the most prevalent sedentary behaviour, and has been associated with poor health outcomes [5]. The relationship between overall sedentary time and health in children is less clear [5]. There is strong evidence for an adverse association between excessive levels and mortality in adults [6]. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4178; doi:10.3390/ijerph16214178 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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