Abstract
BackgroundResearch on social inequalities in sports participation and unstructured physical activity among young children is scarce. This study aimed to assess the associations of family socioeconomic position (SEP) and ethnic background with children’s sports participation and outdoor play.MethodsWe analyzed data from 4726 ethnically diverse 6-year-old children participating in the Generation R Study. Variables were assessed by parent-reported questionnaires when the child was 6 years old. Low level of outdoor play was defined as outdoor play <1 hour per day. Series of multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to assess associations of family SEP and ethnic background with children’s sports participation and outdoor play.ResultsSocioeconomic inequalities in children’s sports participation were found when using maternal educational level (p < 0.05), paternal educational level (p < 0.05), maternal employment status (p < 0.05), and household income (p < 0.05) as family SEP indicator (less sports participation among low SEP children). Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s outdoor play were found when using household income only (p < 0.05) (more often outdoor play <1 hour per day among children from low income household). All ethnic minority children were significantly more likely to not to participate in sports and play outdoor <1 hour per day compared with native Dutch children. Adjustment for family SEP attenuated associations considerably, especially with respect to sports participation.ConclusionLow SEP children and ethnic minority children are more likely not to participate in sports and more likely to display low levels of outdoor play compared with high SEP children and native Dutch children, respectively. In order to design effective interventions, further research, including qualitative studies, is needed to explore more in detail the pathways relating family SEP and ethnic background to children’s sports participation and outdoor play.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-014-0155-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Research on social inequalities in sports participation and unstructured physical activity among young children is scarce
All ethnic minority children were more likely to play outdoors
Children were more likely not to participate in sports and more likely to display low levels of outdoor play compared with high socioeconomic position (SEP) children and native Dutch children, respectively
Summary
Research on social inequalities in sports participation and unstructured physical activity among young children is scarce. This study aimed to assess the associations of family socioeconomic position (SEP) and ethnic background with children’s sports participation and outdoor play. Research on the associations of family SEP [13,18,19,20] and ethnic background [17,19] with children’s outdoor play is more scarce and conflicting, possible due to the use of different indicators of SEP [13,18,19,20]. We aimed to assess the associations of family SEP, as indicated by parental educational level, parental employment status, and household income, and ethnic background with sports participation and outdoor play among 6-year-old ethnically diverse children. Data were used from the Generation R Study, a multi-ethnic prospective birth cohort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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