Moderators of the longitudinal relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play in children: the KOALA birth cohort study

ObjectivesPromoting unstructured outside play is a promising vehicle to increase children inverted question marks physical activity (PA). This study investigates if factors of the social environment moderate the relationship between the perceived physical environment and outside play.Study design1875 parents from the KOALA Birth Cohort Study reported on their child inverted question marks outside play around age five years, and 1516 parents around age seven years. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to evaluate (moderating) relationships among factors of the social environment (parenting influences and social capital), the perceived physical environment, and outside play at age five and seven. Season was entered as a random factor in these analyses.ResultsAccessibility of PA facilities, positive parental attitude towards PA and social capital were associated with more outside play, while parental concern and restriction of screen time were related with less outside play. We found three significant interactions; two involving parent perceived responsibility towards child PA participation, and one involving social capital of the neighborhood.ConclusionAlthough we found a limited number of interactions, this study demonstrated that the impact of the perceived physical environment may differ across levels of parenting responsibility and social capital.