Free admission to federal public lands is linked to significant increases in hiking for higher income, but not lower income, families with fourth gradersThe Every Kid in a Park program, later renamed Every Kid Outdoors, provides free admission to federal public lands for fourth graders and their families. The program was initiated in 2015 by the United States National Park Service (NPS) with the aim of introducing fourth graders to public lands and inspiring their stewardship of the natural environment. Because White families and higher income families generally participate in outdoor recreation more than socioeconomically disadvantaged families, the Every Kid in a Park program also aimed to provide all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, with access to recreational opportunities at national parks. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in expanding children’s opportunities for outdoor recreation and participation in hiking. The study also examined if the program successfully promoted outdoor recreation among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.
To assess the effectiveness of the Every Kid in a Park program, the study compared changes in outdoor recreation patterns, measured by frequency of participation in hiking, among families with fourth graders before and after the program was introduced. The hiking frequencies of families with fourth graders were also compared to those of families with slightly older and younger children who were not eligible to participate in the program. Data was collected from September 2013 through September 2016 using the American Time Use Survey. A nationally representative sample of households were randomly selected to complete the survey by phone interview. Households with a nine or 10-year-old child (common ages of fourth graders) were targeted for participation in the study. Households with an 11- or 12-year-old child (common ages for fifth and sixth graders) were assigned to a counterfactual group. This group served as a comparison group because they were likely similar to families of fourth graders but were not eligible to obtain free admission to federal public lands and therefore were not affected by the introduction of the program. During the interviews, a randomly selected household member who was at least 15 years old was asked to describe their activities over a 24-hour period of the previous day. Collected data focused on whether or not family members hiked with a child in the family on the sample day; the study did not examine if hiking occurred on public lands. Demographic information that included family income level, race and ethnicity were also collected to determine if these factors influenced hiking frequency. Race and ethnicity were categorized as: 1) Black, non-Hispanic, 2) Hispanic, or 3) White non-Hispanic. To obtain a larger sample size, analysis grouped respondents as either families of color (Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic) or White families. Hiking frequency responses from the final analytic sample of 5,119 households were statistically analyzed.
Prior to the Every Kid in a Park program, 0.1% of respondent families with a fourth grader hiked with a child on a given day. The frequency of hiking was similar among families with slightly older or younger children. After the introduction of the program, the frequency of hiking with a child for family members of fourth graders significantly increased to 0.7%. No changes were observed in the hiking frequency of families with slightly younger or older children after program implementation. Analysis that compared families of fourth graders to only older children and accounted for socio-demographic characteristics also detected a significant increase in hiking frequency that was related to the introduction of the program. Importantly, family income level was found to moderate changes in hiking frequency. Among lower income families with a fourth grader, 0.04% of respondents hiked with a child on a given day prior to the program, which increased to 0.1% after the program. However, the increase was not statistically significant, suggesting that the program did not influence the outdoor recreation activities of lower income families. On the other hand, a significant increase was detected for higher income families with fourth graders. This finding revealed that prior to the program, 0.2% of respondents hiked with a child on a given day, which increased to 1.5% after program implementation. In fact, analysis indicated that “after the introduction of the program, the frequency of hiking with a child on a given day in families with fourth graders increased by 0.1 percentage points for each additional $10,000 of annual income.” Among families of color with a fourth grader, hiking frequency increased from 0.01% prior to the program to 0.1% following program initiation, which was not statistically significant. Among White families with a fourth grader, hiking frequency increased from 0.2% to 1.2%, which was statistically significant. However, when analysis accounted for household income, the differences in hiking frequencies between families of color and White families were no longer significant, suggesting that the differences were primarily explained by income and not race/ethnicity.
Overall results suggest that free access to public lands through the Every Kid in a Park program increased engagement in outdoor recreation for family members of fourth graders. However, results also revealed that family income moderated these changes and only higher income families demonstrated significant gains in their outdoor recreation activities. Therefore, “because free admission did not relate to family recreation changes in low-income families, questions remain about the program’s ability to provide opportunities for nature-based outdoor recreation to children in low-income families.” Greater attention to helping economically disadvantaged families utilize the program may help fulfill the goal of providing access to public lands for every child.
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