Mother-reported data on 3657 children was used to investigate whether mothers' perception of distance from home to green/open spaces is associated with their child's screen time. This study was done in Scotland and reflected a nationally representative sample of the country's population. The average age of the children at the time of the study was 5.9 yrs.
Data for this study was gathered through a face-to-face computer-assisted-personal-interview in the participants' homes. In addition to questions about home background, social experience, and a number of other family-related factors, questions were asked about green or open space in the family's local area. One such question asked about distance: “How far away from your home is the nearest green or open space?” Response options were: less than 5 minutes walking distance; 5–10 minutes;11–20 minutes; 21–30 minutes; and more than 30 minutes. Mothers also reported on their child's frequency of outdoor play, how frequently they took their child to the park or playground, and the frequency and duration of their child's TV viewing.
Mothers rated their child's health as being excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor and completed the parental version of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire to assess psychological distress of their children.
Findings indicated that children living more than 20 minutes' walk away from home to green/open spaces watched an extra 2 hours of TV per week compared to those living less than 5 minutes' walk away. Approximately one third of the participants exceeded the maximum time recommended for engagement with entertainment media. Findings also indicated that psychological distress was higher and general health poorer in participants reporting the furthest distance from home to green/open spaces compared to the shortest. They were also more likely to come from lower socio-economic households.
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