Outdoor play is one major source of physical activity (PA) in children. In particular, parents act as gatekeepers, because they can enable their children's outdoor play. This systematic review aims ...to provide an overview of parental correlates of outdoor play. A systematic literature research of six electronic databases (ERIC, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, and Web of Science Core Collection) was conducted with previously defined search terms, focusing on children 0⁻12 years old. In total, 1719 potentially publications were screened based on eligibility criteria. Included studies were scored for overall study quality. Findings were summarized using a semi-quantitative method. Twenty-one peer-reviewed publications which examined the relationship of parental correlates and outdoor play were included. Overall, five parental correlates were associated with children's amount of outdoor play: mothers' ethnicity, mothers' employment status, parents' education level, the importance parents assign to outdoor play, and perceived social cohesion in the neighborhood. Merely four studies reported sex/gender-stratified results. In summary, only parents' encouragement/support provided evidence for girls' amount of outdoor play. The findings are considered to be of public health relevance for developing intervention programs to increase outdoor play and for improving child's health. More research, especially considering sex/gender of the child, is required.
Increases in childhood and adolescent obesity are a growing concern in the United States (U.S.), and in most countries throughout the world. Declines in physical activity are often postulated to have ...contributed to the rise in obesity rates during the past 40 years.
We searched for studies of trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviors of U.S. youth, using nontraditional data sources. Literature searches were conducted for active commuting, physical education, high-school sports, and outdoor play. In addition, trends in sedentary behaviors were examined.
Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and other national surveys, as well as longitudinal studies in the transportation, education, electronic media, and recreation sectors showed evidence of changes in several indicators. Active commuting, high school physical education, and outdoor play (in 3- to 12-year-olds) declined over time, while sports participation in high school girls increased from 1971 to 2012. In addition, electronic entertainment and computer use increased during the first decade of the 21st century.
Technological and societal changes have impacted the types of physical activities performed by U.S. youth. These data are helpful in understanding the factors associated with the rise in obesity, and in proposing potential solutions.
Injury prevention plays a key role in keeping children safe, but emerging research suggests that imposing too many restrictions on children's outdoor risky play hinders their development. We explore ...the relationship between child development, play, and conceptions of risk taking with the aim of informing child injury prevention. Generational trends indicate children's diminishing engagement in outdoor play is influenced by parental and societal concerns. We outline the importance of play as a necessary ingredient for healthy child development and review the evidence for arguments supporting the need for outdoor risky play, including: (1) children have a natural propensity towards risky play; and, (2) keeping children safe involves letting them take and manage risks. Literature from many disciplines supports the notion that safety efforts should be balanced with opportunities for child development through outdoor risky play. New avenues for investigation and action are emerging seeking optimal strategies for keeping children "as safe as necessary," not "as safe as possible." This paradigm shift represents a potential for epistemological growth as well as cross-disciplinary collaboration to foster optimal child development while preserving children's safety.
Children's independent mobility (CIM) is the freedom of children to move around their neighbourhood without adult supervision and is closely related to overall physical activity participation. The ...COVID-19 pandemic has impacted movement behaviours for children, with evidence indicating a decrease in physical activity. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of CIM and physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of children and their parents. We completed 21 family (at least one parent and one child aged 7-12) semi-structured interviews with 45 participants living in small urban and rural areas of British Columbia, Canada. Three themes were identified through a reflexive thematic analysis: (1) keeping everyone safe from COVID-19; (2) change in pattern and types of activity; (3) social impacts with family, friends, and community. Participants expressed a perceived increase in unstructured activity and a decrease in structured physical activity during the pandemic, which many parents viewed as a positive change. Parents and children indicated negative feelings due to spending less time with peers and reflected positively about spending more time with family. Parents and children expressed fear and anxiety in trying to keep their families safe from virus spread and creativity in adapting play behaviours. Findings highlight the impact of the pandemic on social friendship networks for families and a shift in activity patterns for children toward unstructured play.
With prevalence estimates indicating that young Australian children are increasingly sedentary, it is important to identify the relevant attributes that are shaping this lack of activity. Literature ...has identified safety concerns of parents as a consistent barrier to physical activity participation of young children. Despite safety being a plausible determinant of young children's activity preferences, the impact of restrictive parenting practices has rarely been examined through quantitative research. The current study investigates the link between controlling and supportive physical activity parenting practices and preschool children's physical activity knowledge, preferences and parent-reported behaviour.
The current cross-sectional study included 138 parent-child dyads and involved two components of data collection including a child and a parent questionnaire. Results of the parent and child questionnaires were matched to determine correlations between physical activity parenting practices and preschool children's physical activity knowledge, preference and parent-reported behaviour.
Children's preferences for physical activity correlated with a number of demographic characteristics and physical activity parenting practices, with the most influential variables being parental age, parental rules around active play outdoors and parental use of screen-time to reward/control child behaviour. Based on parental-reporting, children who preferred to be physically active were more likely to engage in physical activity and were less likely to engage in screen-time on the weekend.
This study identified that parenting practices are not only associated with children's active and sedentary behaviours (parent-reported), but also with how children prefer to play (parent-reported). Future research should seek to clarify the relationship between children's activity preferences and parent's use of screen-time to reward and control their child's behaviour, given the developmental and behavioural health risks associated with excessive media/screen exposure in early childhood. Further research should investigate whether competing societal values of the importance of encouraging children's risky play and the need to prevent children from being injured, coupled with parent's busy schedules are contributing to parental ambivalence regarding how to promote active play for their children. Finally, research should be conducted to establish the relationship between physical activity parenting practices and children's objectively-measured activity level.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study investigated where preschool children were more or less active in outdoor play areas in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers using a novel method of combined device-measured ...physical activity, spatial data and on-site audit data. Preschool children (n = 237) aged 2-5 years from 30 ECEC centers wore accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X+) and Global Positioning System device (Qstarz Q-1000XT) for 7 days. Optimized hot spot analysis was performed to identify physical activity hot and cold spots in ECEC outdoor play areas. Preschoolers' mean daily minutes of physical activity per ECEC day were significantly higher in large-very large ECEC centers compared to small-medium sized ECEC centers (all p < .01). Physical activity hot spots were frequently found in open areas and sometimes also found in their adjacent outdoor play areas if children can freely move between these areas. The amount of running space in ECEC outdoor play area and its location in relation to open areas are important for facilitating physical activity in preschool children. The findings provide objective behavioral and spatial information of ECEC outdoor play area designs that promote physical activity behavior in preschoolers, which can be used to inform the planning and design of physical activity promoting ECEC outdoor environments.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Hispanic children played in fewer types of outdoor places but for more minutes.•Neighborhood safety and play destinations were important for children’s play.•Prevalent crash incidences were ...deterrents of outdoor play among White children.•Street intersections were barriers to outdoor play among Hispanic children.
A continued decrease in outdoor play time among children has contributed to the decline in their overall physical activity levels. Creating safe and supportive neighborhood environments for outdoor play can help promote physical activity especially among children lacking private play areas. Further, children from different cultural backgrounds may be influenced by different factors when deciding if or where to play. This paper examines differences in outdoor play patterns and locations, and their correlates between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White children.
A total of 3449 elementary school students (69.3% Hispanic) were recruited in 2010 from 20 schools in the Austin Independent School District, Texas. Using the data collected from their parental survey, two multivariable linear regression models were estimated to identify correlates of outdoor play time for each ethnic group.
Hispanic children used fewer types of places to play outdoors but for more minutes/weekday. A high residential density appeared as a facilitator among White children, while a connected street pattern (more intersections/crossings) functioned as a barrier among Hispanic children. Neighborhood safety, destinations, and land uses were important in both ethnic groups, but differences were found in the specific associations.
Findings suggest that intervention strategies to promote outdoor play should respond to the specific needs, preferences, and external constraints of children from different cultural backgrounds. The strategies should also be tailored to provide safer places for Hispanic children. This proposes public participation from diverse ethnic groups in processes of planning and infrastructure decision-making to reflect different preferences and achieve equitable access to health-supportive resources.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This study conveys how young adults reflect upon their childhood experiences and memories of outdoor play, friluftsliv and outdoor places. Inspired by a phenomenological approach, we conducted ...walking interviews in nature areas where they used to play as children, revisiting the same informants and places as in a research project 14 years earlier. Today the respondents emphasise the experience of freedom encompassing joy, wonder and communication with surrounding nature and people, associating it with autonomy and self-determination. Joy, wonder and communication in someone's experience are subjective existential categories often used to characterise friluftsliv in outdoor education. Personally meaningful to the young adults, these experiences have become important parts of who they are today. These results differ from previous research on outdoor play as it highlights freedom, joy and wonder. Based on this, we argue for facilitating self-directed outdoor play, and emphasize conscious choice of location for outdoor pedagogical work.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Children’s risky play opportunities depend on supervising adults’ attitudes and the play environment. The possibilities to engage in risk-taking outdoor play for children have seriously decreased ...over the last few decades, due to safety concerns and adults’ preoccupation with protection. In response to this shift, research has increasingly focused on influencing factors on professional attitudes toward risk-taking in children’s play. However, children’s perspective on risky play is underrepresented in the recent literature. This study generates awareness of children’s risky play preferences and interests to help professional caretakers hone their facilitating role. We explored children’s notions of risk and challenge in play during a loose parts intervention stimulating risky play and facilitated by after-school childcare practitioners. A thematic analysis examined observations, informal conversations, and roundtable talks with children about their risky play experiences. Children describe their risk-taking in play as experimental and daring. The findings report on children’s general views on risky play, their play experiences with loose parts, their real-life risky play experiences, and their opinions on the role of practitioners. By relating the results to risky play research and self-determination theory, this study offers insight into children’s innate needs. Taking risks on their own terms gives children a sense of self-confidence and mastery, and forces them into new relationships with other children and guiding adults. Consequently, children fulfill the three universal needs of self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
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