Moderators of the longitudinal relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play in children: the KOALA birth cohort study.

Teun Remmers,Dick Ettema,Sanne De Vries,Stef Pj Kremers,Jessica Gubbels,Dave Van Kann,Carel Thijs,Swantje Schmidt

doi:10.1186/s12966-014-0150-8

Abstract

ObjectivesPromoting unstructured outside play is a promising vehicle to increase children’s physical activity (PA). This study investigates if factors of the social environment moderate the relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play.Study design1875 parents from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study reported on their child’s outside play around age five years, and 1516 parents around age seven years. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to evaluate (moderating) relationships among factors of the social environment (parenting influences and social capital), the perceived physical environment, and outside play at age five and seven. Season was entered as a random factor in these analyses.ResultsAccessibility of PA facilities, positive parental attitude towards PA and social capital were associated with more outside play, while parental concern and restriction of screen time were related with less outside play. We found two significant interactions; both involving parent perceived responsibility towards child PA participation.ConclusionAlthough we found a limited number of interactions, this study demonstrated that the impact of the perceived physical environment may differ across levels of parent responsibility.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-014-0150-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Physical activity (PA) is key to prevent and reverse childhood overweight and obesity, resulting in the incorporation of PA in international guidelines of the World Health Organization (i.e., 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorously intense PA) [1]
Accessibility of PA facilities, positive parental attitude towards PA and social capital were associated with more outside play, while parental concern and restriction of screen time were related with less outside play
Conclusion: we found a limited number of interactions, this study demonstrated that the impact of the perceived physical environment may differ across levels of parent responsibility

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) is key to prevent and reverse childhood overweight and obesity, resulting in the incorporation of PA in international guidelines of the World Health Organization (i.e., 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorously intense PA) [1]. Increasing evidence suggests that attributes of the perceived physical environment such as functionality, traffic safety, attractiveness, and accessibility are associated with PA [10,11,12,13]. Evidence for this relationship in children is mixed [11,13]. Several PA domains (e.g., outside play, organized sports, active transport) may have different environmental correlates (e.g., outside play is conceptually matched to playgrounds rather than active transport). Conceptual mismatching of attributes of the physical environment to specific PA domains may be another reason for the mixed evidence in children [15,16]

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