Citation

Hunter S, Leatherdale ST, Spence JC, Carson V. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 2022; 54(3): 249-255.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Canadian Psychological Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1037/cbs0000304

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

To identify features parents perceived as being relevant for their child's active play, their own active recreation, and their coactivity. Parents (n = 145, M age = 36.2 years) with preschoolers (M age = 3.9 years) living in Edmonton, Canada were recruited from each of Edmonton's council wards. Parents reported demographic information and the importance of several neighborhood features (destinations, design, social, safety, esthetics) for their child's active play, their own active recreation, and their coactivity via six-item Likert scales. After dichotomizing response options, a series of proportional tests accounting for the clustered data (council ward) were performed to identify features considered relevant (important/most important) or not relevant (not at all important/unimportant/neutral/not applicable) by the majority of parents (>50%). The majority of parents reported that 23 of the 32 neighborhood features were perceived as being relevant for all activity domains. These included destinations (parks, playgrounds, arenas, schools, sport fields, arenas/ice rinks, river valley/ravine), design features (quiet streets, trails, sidewalks), social features (friends/family, child's friends, other children playing outside, knowing neighbors, trusting neighbors), safety features (street lighting, crime, traffic, daylight, sidewalk maintenance, crosswalks), and esthetic features (cleanliness, natural features). Parents reported several neighborhood features as being relevant for promoting their child's active play, their own active recreation, and coactivity. These findings may be helpful in guiding future research examining neighborhood correlates of physical activity among preschoolers and their parents. Further, relevant government officials may find this information useful for creating neighborhoods for active living in young families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Childhood Play Behavior; Encouragement; Measurement; Neighborhoods; Parent Child Relations; Parents; Physical Activity; Recreation