Environmental influences on physical activity levels in youth

Neighborhood recreation facilities positively influence children's physical activity levelsTucker and colleagues examined children's physical activity levels in relation to several neighborhood environmental factors as well as parents' perceptions of recreation opportunities. The purpose was to determine what environmental influences would affect children's level of physical activity.

Over 800 eleven- to thirteen-year-old children in London, Ontario completed a questionnaire regarding their physical activity levels on the preceding day. They also answered questions about environmental influences in their home and school environments. In addition, parents completed a questionnaire providing demographic information and evaluating their child's home environment. Researchers used a Geographic Information System to document and analyze the recreational opportunities available within each child's neighborhood environment.

In analyzing the data, Tucker and colleagues found that, on average, children engaged in about 160 minutes of physical activity a day. In addition, researchers found that neighborhood recreational opportunities significantly and positively influenced children's physical activity levels. For example, Tucker and colleagues found that children with two or more recreation facilities in their neighborhood engaged in almost 17 more minutes of physical activity after school as compared to children with less than two recreation facilities and were almost two times as likely to be in the upper quartile for after school physical activity. Importantly, researchers controlled for a number of other factors in their analyses, including season and demographic factors. Tucker and colleagues also found that land use mix and percentage of park coverage did not significantly influence children's physical activity levels.

This study is cross-sectional in nature, relied on self-report, and focused on quantity and not quality of recreation facilities. The study provides valuable insight into how neighborhood recreation opportunities may influence children's physical activity levels.