School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2329 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute, 4480 Oak St., Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Aug 28;16(17):3129. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16173129.
Children's independent mobility (IM), their freedom to move about their neighbourhood without supervision by adults, has been in steady decline in recent decades. Previous research has linked perceptions of the environment with various measures of IM, but recently concerns have been raised regarding inconsistency in measuring IM. This study used various measures of IM and aimed to address how parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment are associated with children's territorial range (actual IM), as well as how this relationship is mediated by IM parenting practices (allowed IM). A sample of 105 child/parent dyads from Vancouver, Canada participated in this study. Children (age 10-13) wore a global positioning system (GPS) watch and an accelerometer and completed an activity diary for seven days to assess their territorial range. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of their neighbourhood environment and IM parenting practices-license for IM and roaming allowance. Path analyses were used to address the research aims. License for IM and roaming allowance mediated the relationship between perceived walking facilities, crime safety, and neighbourhood relations and children's territorial range. Findings suggest that future interventions to increase children's territorial range should focus primarily on attitude and behaviour change among parents to grant children more freedom.
儿童的独立出行能力（IM），即他们在没有成人监督的情况下在其居住社区内自由移动的能力，在近几十年来一直在稳步下降。先前的研究将对环境的看法与各种独立出行能力的衡量标准联系起来，但最近人们对衡量独立出行能力的不一致性表示担忧。本研究使用了各种独立出行能力的衡量标准，旨在探讨父母对邻里环境的看法如何与儿童的领地范围（实际独立出行能力）相关，以及这种关系如何通过独立出行能力的养育实践（允许独立出行能力）来介导。本研究的样本包括来自加拿大温哥华的 105 对儿童/家长，这些儿童（年龄在 10-13 岁之间）佩戴了全球定位系统（GPS）手表和加速度计，并填写了为期七天的活动日记，以评估他们的领地范围。家长完成了一份问卷，评估了他们对邻里环境和独立出行能力养育实践的看法——允许独立出行的许可和漫游许可。路径分析用于解决研究目的。允许独立出行的许可和漫游许可中介了感知到的步行设施、犯罪安全和邻里关系与儿童领地范围之间的关系。研究结果表明，未来为增加儿童领地范围而进行的干预措施应主要集中在父母的态度和行为改变上，以给予儿童更多的自由。
