Association of access to parks and recreational facilities with the physical activity of young children.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine associations of the neighborhood and home television environments with young children's physical activity.

METHOD:
32 boys and 27 girls age 4 to 7 years wore accelerometers for 3 weekdays and 1 weekend day. The number of televisions in the home and television watching of the child were monitored using TV Allowance units for 3 weeks. A geographic information system was used to measure neighborhood environment variables.

RESULTS:
Hierarchical regression analysis was used to predict physical activity, initially controlling for sex, age, socioeconomic status, adiposity, and child television watching in step 1. In step 2, the number of televisions did not significantly increase the amount of variability accounted for in the prediction of physical activity. In step 3, housing density and the interaction of housing density by sex accounted for an incremental 12% (p < 0.05) of the variability and in step 4 percentage park plus recreation area accounted for a further 10% (p < 0.05) of the variability. Greater housing density predicted increased physical activity of boys, but not girls.

CONCLUSION:
Neighborhoods with increased proximity between homes and a greater proportion of park area are associated with greater physical activity in young children.

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Author information

Author/s: Roemmich, James N (JN); Epstein, Leonard H (LH); Raja, Samina (S); Yin, Li (L); Robinson, Jodie (J); Winiewicz, Dana (D);

Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA. roemmich(-atsign-)acsu.buffalo.edu

Grants: R01 DK063442 (Agency:NIDDK NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Preventive medicine (Prev Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Dec; vol 43 (issue 6) : pp 437-41

Dates: Created 2006/12/04; Completed 2007/03/14; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 16928396, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Body Mass Index
Child
Child, Preschool
Environment Design - standards
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Male
Monitoring, Ambulatory
Motivation
Motor Activity - physiology

Motor Activity - physiology
New York
Overweight - physiology
Play and Playthings
Public Facilities - statistics & numerical data
Recreation - physiology
Regression Analysis
Residence Characteristics - classification
Socioeconomic Factors
Television - supply & distribution; utilization
Walking - physiology; psychology; statistics & numerical data

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