Mothers’ Perceived Neighbourhood Environment and Outdoor Play of 2- to 3.5-Year-Old Children: Findings from the Healthy Beginnings Trial

Abstract

Background: This study aims to investigate whether mothers’ perceived neighbourhood environment is associated with outdoor playtime of 2- to 3.5-year-old children. Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using data from the Healthy Beginnings Trial (HBT). Data on children’s outdoor playtime and mothers’ perceived neighbourhood environment were collected through face-to-face interviews with mothers when their children were 2 and 3.5 years old. Walk score was obtained from a publicly available website and population density data were obtained from Australian Census data. Multiple logistic regression models were built to investigate these associations. Results: A total of 497 and 415 mother-child dyads were retained at 2 years and 3.5 years. After adjusting for intervention group allocation and other confounding factors, at 2 years, mothers’ perceptions that ‘the neighbourhood is a good place to bring up children’, ‘it is safe to play outside during the day’, and ‘there are good parks or playgrounds in neighbourhood’ were positively associated with children’s outdoor playtime. At 3.5 years, living in a free-standing house was associated with more children’s outdoor playtime. Conclusions: Children may benefit from living in a neighbourhood that supports active lifestyle. Improving social and physical environments in neighbourhoods could be an important strategy for improving young children’s physical activity.

The Associations between Outdoor Playtime, Screen-Viewing Time, and Environmental Factors in Chinese Young Children: The “Eat, Be Active and Sleep Well” Study

“…According to a Canadian study, 82% of parents had concerns about their children’s safety during outdoor play [ 36 ]. An Australian longitudinal study conducted between 2007 and 2013 also found that parents concerned about their children playing outdoors increased notably from 26% to 42% [ 37 ]. Furthermore, according to studies done by objective measurements, since concerns regarding crimes against children or traffic accidents are large obstacles to outdoor play of children, forming a safe environment in the urban areas is an important method for increasing outdoor activities of Chinese children [ 38 ].…”

Association between parent and child physical activity: a systematic review

“…The majority (n = 36) were published within the last 10 years (2009-2018). Half of the studies were conducted in the US or Canada (n = 19) [19, 20, 24, 25, 27, 29, 31, 35-37, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 54, 62], and the rest were carried out in Europe (n = 12) [13,21,23,26,28,33,34,38,44,46,49,63], Australia (n = 6) [30,32,40,50,53,64], New Zealand (n = 1) [22], or China (n = 1) [65]. The majority of the studies were crosssectional (n = 31), while the rest had a longitudinal design.…”

Parental Correlates of Outdoor Play in Boys and Girls Aged 0 to 12—A Systematic Review

“…According to a Canadian study of school-aged children, 82% of mothers mentioned concerns and fear about their children’s safety when playing outdoors without supervision [25]. Besides, on the basis of the Australian census data (2007–2013), the percentage of mothers who think that playing outdoors is dangerous has increased significantly, from 26% to 42% in children 2–3.5 years old [26].…”