Equitable access to greenspace is an important consideration for interventions aiming to reduce children’s screen timeWhile the majority of US children exceed daily screen time recommendations, research has revealed concerning racial and ethnic inequities, with Black and Hispanic children being the most likely to engage in excessive screen use. Research has also determined that access to greenspace may support reduced screen time; however, it is widely understood that Black and Hispanic children continue to face inequitable access to greenspace. To bridge these areas of research, this study investigated how neighborhood greenspace access influences the effectiveness of community programs and policies (CPPs) designed to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in screen time.
The study utilized data from the Healthy Communities Study (HCS), a national study that examined CPPs and obesity-related behaviors among racially and ethnically diverse children in the US. Researchers purposefully selected 130 communities across the US to prioritize neighborhoods with high proportions of Black, Hispanic, and/or low-income residents. This study used data collected on 4598 children (age 4-15 years) residing in these communities. Surveys were completed by older children, or the parents of younger children, to assess screen time with the 7-day Physical Activity Behavior Recall instrument. Key informants from each community, such as school principals and community-based organization staff, were identified and interviewed to provide an understanding of CPPs aimed at reducing screen time. An intensity score was calculated for the CPPs in participants’ communities based on an assessment of each intervention’s impact. Neighborhood racial and ethnic composition was examined using 1 kilometer buffers around participants’ homes and data from the 2000 Census. Neighborhoods were classified as: <30% Black or Hispanic residents; ≥30% Black residents; ≥30% Hispanic residents. Neighborhood greenspace access was assessed within each participant’s 1 kilometer buffer using data from the National Land Cover Database and were ranked as low greenspace access, moderate greenspace access, and high greenspace access. Data were analyzed statistically.
Results identified disparities in greenspace access, with children living in neighborhoods with ≥30% Black residents being significantly less likely to have high greenspace access compared to children who lived in neighborhoods with <30% Black or Hispanic residents. Additionally, neighborhoods with ≥30% Hispanic residents were found to have the least access to high greenspace. Disparities in screen time were also detected. Children living in neighborhoods with ≥30% Black residents engaged in significantly more screen time even though these neighborhoods had significantly higher mean CPP intensity scores.
Analyses to examine the relationship between CPP intensity and screen time were conducted both with and without the inclusion of greenspace accessibility data. Analysis that did not incorporate greenspace accessibility measures revealed that the relationship between CPPs and screen time varied by neighborhood racial and ethnic composition. Specifically, higher CPP levels were linked to significantly lower screen times for children living in neighborhoods with <30% Black or Hispanic residents; although, in neighborhoods with ≥30% Black residents higher CPP levels were linked to significantly higher screen times. Importantly, however, when analysis incorporated greenspace access, racial and ethnic composition was no longer significant within the relationship between CPP intensity and screen time. For neighborhoods with high greenspace access, but not those with low or moderate access, more intense CPPs were related to lower screen time regardless of neighborhood racial and ethnic composition. This finding suggests that high greenspace access, not neighborhood racial and ethnic composition, is a critical factor that supports screen time reductions.
In addition to highlighting inequities in greenspace exposure and screen time, the study revealed that the benefits of CPPs on screen time were only experienced by neighborhoods with high greenspace access. The authors suggest that offering CPPs may not be effective if communities lack the green space to support healthy alternatives to screen time. Implementing CPPs without considering racial and ethnic greenspace inequities may underlying persistent inequities in childhood screen time. Overall, the study contributes to an understanding of how historical discriminatory housing policies that restrict greenspace access continue to limit the effectiveness of health policies and programming today.
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