The health benefits of blue space proximity often vary by gender for Australian children This Australian study investigated if primary school children’s proximity to the coast is associated with their weight, health behaviors, and health-related quality of life. Previous research has focused more on the benefits of children living close to green space than their proximity to blue space—that is, coasts, rivers, or lakes. In addition, one-quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese. Therefore, understanding relationships between blue spaces and children’s physical and mental health could lead to more informed health recommendations for Australian youth—most of whom live near the coast.
This was a quantitative study that drew upon data from a larger childhood obesity study in Australia. It analyzed data from 1216 primary school children in grades 4 and 6 (age 8-13) who lived in ten communities in the Great South Coast region of the state of Victoria. The researchers administered a self-report behavioral questionnaire to collect health and demographic data, calculated children’s body mass index through height and weight measures, used a questionnaire and accelerometers to measure physical activity and sedentary behaviors, administered another inventory to measure health-related quality of life, and finally used global information systems to calculate proximity to the coast as a proxy for blue space exposure. Statistical analyses then determined correlations among these measures, including tests to determine if health outcomes associated with blue space exposure varied by gender, social economic status, and other demographic variables.
Living closer to the coast was associated with positive health measures and behaviors with results often differing by gender. Boys were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines but less likely to meet sedentary behavior guidelines. Distance from the coast was associated with overweight and obesity for girls but not for boys. Boys living closer to the coast were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines, but this was not true for girls. Both boys and girls who lived with 5 kilometers of the coast had higher health-related quality of life scores; in addition, boys living this close to the coast had higher physical functioning scores than boys living more than 5 kilometers from the coast. Both boys and girls who lived within 5 kilometers of the coast had higher psychosocial functioning than children living more than 50 kilometers from the coast.
Comparing health measures for children living different distances from the Australian coast generally pointed to positive associations between blue space and children’s weight status, health-related quality of life, and physical activity. However, patterns also varied by gender. Girls living closer to the coast had lower odds of being obese or overweight, lower body mass indexes, more physical activity, higher health-related quality of life indicators, and better psychosocial functioning. Boys living closer to the coast were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines and had higher scores for health-related quality of life, physical functioning, and psychosocial functioning. Unique findings included no evidence that proximity to blue space was connected to lower body mass index and overweight/obesity risks for girls; similarly, there was no association between distance from the coast and sedentary behaviors for either boys or girls. At the same time, this is one of the first studies to demonstrate a relationship between proximity to blue space and health-related quality of life.
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