Based on evidence that primary school children in the Netherlands do not meet recommended health guidelines for physical activity, and noting that outdoor play is a natural way to promote children's physical activity, the purpose of this study by Aarts and colleagues was to examine physical and social factors that influence outdoor play in the home and neighborhood environments of children of different age groups.
Researchers surveyed over 6,000 parents of 4- to 12-year-old children in four Dutch cities. Children's data were organized into age groups of 4 - 6, 7 - 9, and 10 - 12 years of age. The children were from 42 primary schools in four medium-sized Dutch cities. Survey questions include time spent by children on outdoor play as well as physical and social characteristics of the children's home and neighborhood environments. Neighborhood was defined as the area that could be reached by parents by ten to 15 minutes on foot, or five to eight minutes by bike. Neighborhood types were based on pre-existing data organized by postal code.
In analyzing the data, Aarts and colleagues found that several personal and home characteristics were positively associated with children's outdoor play, including the importance parents place on outdoor play and the presence of electronic devices in the child's room, while parental education was negatively associated with children's outdoor play. In examining neighborhood factors, researchers found that neighborhood social cohesion was positively associated with children's outdoor play. With regard to physical neighborhood factors, however, Aarts and colleagues discovered no consistent relationships: the relationships varied depending on the age and gender of the children. For example, the presence of water was positively associated with outdoor play for 4- to 6-year-old boys, but not for girls or boys of other ages.
This study provides a valuable perspective on factors influencing children's outdoor play. This study suggests that neighborhood social cohesion may be a particularly important characteristic to focus on in order to improve children's outdoor play and that efforts focusing on the physical environment should take into account the age and gender of the children impacted.
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