Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 43, Issue 6, December 2006, Pages 437-441
Preventive Medicine

Association of access to parks and recreational facilities with the physical activity of young children

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.07.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective.

To determine associations of the neighborhood and home television environments with young children's physical activity.

Method.

32 boys and 27 girls age 4 to 7 years wore accelerometers for 3 weekdays and 1 weekend day. The number of televisions in the home and television watching of the child were monitored using TV Allowance™ units for 3 weeks. A geographic information system was used to measure neighborhood environment variables.

Results.

Hierarchical regression analysis was used to predict physical activity, initially controlling for sex, age, socioeconomic status, adiposity, and child television watching in step 1. In step 2, the number of televisions did not significantly increase the amount of variability accounted for in the prediction of physical activity. In step 3, housing density and the interaction of housing density by sex accounted for an incremental 12% (p < 0.05) of the variability and in step 4 percentage park plus recreation area accounted for a further 10% (p < 0.05) of the variability. Greater housing density predicted increased physical activity of boys, but not girls.

Conclusion.

Neighborhoods with increased proximity between homes and a greater proportion of park area are associated with greater physical activity in young children.

Introduction

The increased prevalence of obesity in young children (Ogden et al., 1997, Ogden et al., 2002) has been attributed to environmental changes that encourage sedentary behaviors and reduced physical activity (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005, Ewing et al., 2003, Frank et al., 2004, French et al., 2001, Hill et al., 2003, Lopez, 2004, Saelens et al., 2002, Saelens et al., 2003). Homes and neighborhoods may have a great impact on the health behaviors of young children as they spend much time in these environments. Access to reinforcing activities in the home, such as television, compete with the choice to be active outside and children choose to watch television rather than be active when given the choice (Epstein et al., 1991, Johnson et al., 1978, Smith and Epstein, 1991). However, television watching is not necessarily associated with the activity levels of youth (Biddle et al., 2004, Marshall et al., 2005) and this area requires further study.

More dense neighborhoods are associated with greater physical activity in adults (Ewing, 2005, Frank et al., 2005), but the influence of housing density on young children's activity has not yet been studied. Greater housing density reduces the walking distance between homes. Parents may be more willing to facilitate play by walking with the child to a friend's home or by letting young children walk to a friend's home if they live nearby.

Neighborhoods with greater accessibility to reinforcing physical activities such as those provided at parks could also increase young children's physical activity by increasing children's motivation to be active outside (Epstein et al., in press, Roemmich et al., in press). Neighborhood park and recreation facilities could also provide a place for parent's with young children to meet and allow their children to play.

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of the home and neighborhood environments with physical activity in young children. The number of televisions in the home was recorded during home visits. Geographic information systems (GIS) analysis was used to assess neighborhood environment variables. These objective measures were then used to predict physical activity measured with accelerometers.

Section snippets

Study participants

The data are a cross-sectional analysis of the run-in period from a longitudinal study to evaluate the effects of modifying the home television watching environment of 4- to 7-year-old children with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 75th percentile. Eligibility criteria included the child participating in 14 h or more per week of television, and no conditions that would limit participation in physical activity. A total of 32 boys and 27 girls that completed the run-in processes lived in Erie county, NY

Results

The boys and girls were not significantly different (p > 0.05) for age, SES, number of televisions in the home, physical activity, and television use (Table 1). The girls were taller, heavier (p = 0.02), and had a greater BMI (p = 0.03) and percentage overweight (p = 0.01) than the boys. As shown in Table 2, there were no differences (p > 0.05) between the boys' and girls' neighborhood environment characteristics.

For the prediction of total physical activity (Table 3), step 1 variables produced an R2 of

Discussion

Consistent with previous work in two independent samples of 8- to 12-year-old youth, greater neighborhood park and recreation areas were associated with greater physical activity (Epstein et al., in press, Roemmich et al., in press). The percentage park area accounted for 9% of the variance in physical activity of older youth (Roemmich et al., in press) and for 10% in the present study. Based on the adjusted β coefficients from the hierarchical regression models and an overall mean physical

Conclusion

Neighborhoods with parks and denser housing are associated with greater physical activity in young children. The association of neighborhood parks on young children's physical activity is consistent with data from older youth and emphasizes the importance of designing neighborhood environments that support active living of children and their parents. Future research should include clinical trials that study differences in treatment efficacy of increasing youth physical activity based on

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a University at Buffalo Interdisciplinary Research and Creative Activities Fund grant to Dr. Roemmich and grant RO1 DK063442 to Dr. Epstein. This project was initiated and analyzed by the investigators. Appreciation is expressed to Hai Sun, MS, and Kruti Bhatia, MS, for the geographic information system analyses.

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