Armstrong Guy P, Maitland Clover, Lester Leanne, Trost Stewart G, Trapp Gina, Boruff Bryan, Al Marzooqi Mohamed K, Christian Hayley E
School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Perth.
School of Human Sciences (Exercise and Sport Science), University of Western Australia, Perth; Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Public Health Res Pract. 2019 Mar 6;29(1):2911907. doi: 10.17061/phrp2911907.
Objectives and importance of study: Young children's outdoor play mostly occurs within the home-yard space, yet the influence of the home yard on preschoolers' outdoor play and physical activity is poorly understood. We investigated the relationships between home-yard features and home-based outdoor play and physical activity in preschoolers (2-5 years old).
Cross-sectional observational study.
The PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children's Physical Activity (PLAYCE) study (2015-2017) included 1596 children aged 2-5 years attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) services throughout metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. In this study, a subsample of 224 parents from the PLAYCE study completed an online questionnaire about home-yard features (yard size, lawn quality, natural features, fixed and portable play equipment, and flowers and vegetables/herbs). Accelerometers measured the duration of preschoolers' moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on non-ECEC days. Parent-reported outdoor play at home, sociodemographic factors and social environment factors were collected via the PLAYCE parent survey. Multiple linear regression models were used to determine associations between home-yard features and preschoolers' outdoor play and physical activity.
Children spent 68.9 (SD 2.2) minutes playing outdoors in the home yard per day, and 93.3 (SD 37.1) minutes in MVPA per day on non-ECEC days. After adjusting for child and parent factors, home-yard features positively associated with outdoor play included yard size, lawn quality, number of types of fixed and portable play equipment, natural features and play areas (all p ≤ 0.05). When all significant home-yard features were placed in a model, only the number of types of fixed play equipment was positively associated with minutes of outdoor play per day (β = 5.3, p < 0.001). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, the number of types of portable play equipment in the yard was positively associated with MVPA minutes per day (β = 2.16, p = 0.019); however, this became nonsignificant after further adjusting for social environment factors.
Features of the home-yard physical environment were positively associated with preschoolers' outdoor play and physical activity. Each additional type of fixed play equipment present was associated with an additional 5 minutes of outdoor play per day. These findings suggest that the home-yard space has the potential to facilitate increased outdoor play in young children. Further research is warranted to explore causal relationships between home-yard attributes and young children's outdoor play and physical activity.
研究目的及重要性：幼儿的户外玩耍大多发生在自家院子里，但人们对院子对学龄前儿童户外玩耍和身体活动的影响了解甚少。我们调查了院子特征与学龄前儿童（2至5岁）在家进行的户外玩耍和身体活动之间的关系。
横断面观察性研究。
儿童身体活动的玩耍空间与环境（PLAYCE）研究（2015 - 2017年）纳入了西澳大利亚州珀斯市大都市区1596名2至5岁参加幼儿教育与保育（ECEC）服务的儿童。在本研究中，从PLAYCE研究中抽取的224名家长的子样本完成了一份关于院子特征（院子大小、草坪质量、自然特征、固定和便携式游乐设备以及花卉和蔬菜/草药）的在线问卷。加速度计测量了学龄前儿童在非ECEC日进行中度至剧烈身体活动（MVPA）的时长。通过PLAYCE家长调查问卷收集家长报告的在家户外玩耍情况、社会人口统计学因素和社会环境因素。使用多元线性回归模型来确定院子特征与学龄前儿童户外玩耍和身体活动之间的关联。
儿童每天在自家院子里户外玩耍68.9（标准差2.2）分钟，在非ECEC日每天进行MVPA的时长为93.3（标准差37.1）分钟。在对儿童和家长因素进行调整后，与户外玩耍呈正相关的院子特征包括院子大小、草坪质量、固定和便携式游乐设备的类型数量、自然特征和游乐区域（所有p≤0.05）。当将所有显著的院子特征纳入一个模型时，只有固定游乐设备的类型数量与每天户外玩耍的分钟数呈正相关（β = 5.3，p < 0.001）。在对社会人口统计学因素进行调整后，院子里便携式游乐设备的类型数量与每天MVPA的分钟数呈正相关（β = 2.16，p = 0.019）；然而，在进一步对社会环境因素进行调整后，这一相关性变得不显著。
院子物理环境的特征与学龄前儿童的户外玩耍和身体活动呈正相关。每增加一种固定游乐设备与每天额外增加5分钟的户外玩耍相关。这些发现表明，院子空间有潜力促进幼儿增加户外玩耍。有必要进行进一步研究以探索院子属性与幼儿户外玩耍和身体活动之间的因果关系。
