2026/02/20 by Yeongho Hwang, John C. Spence, L Masse +1 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Psychology · Medicine · #Urban Green Space and Health #Outdoor and Experiential Education #Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
paper · doi:10.1123/jpah.2025-0407
openalex publication_date 2026/02/20 · openalex created_date 2026/02/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23
BACKGROUND: This study examined the relative contributions of individual, family, and neighborhood social factors to active outdoor play (AOP) in preschool-aged children (3-5 y). METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 92 preschool-aged children and their parents in Alberta, Canada. AOP outcomes (light-intensity, moderate- to vigorous-intensity, total) were measured using a novel method integrating accelerometer, Global Positioning System, and time-use diary data. Separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for each AOP outcome, with season included in the first block to account for seasonal variation. Individual, family, and neighborhood social factors, measured using a parental questionnaire adapted from previous tools, were then sequentially entered into subsequent blocks. RESULTS: Across all AOP outcomes, adding individual and family factors did not significantly increase the explained variance. However, adding neighborhood social factors led to significant increases in the explained variance, contributing an additional 10.7% for light-intensity AOP, 8.5% for moderate- to vigorous-intensity AOP, and 11.6% for total AOP. Among the neighborhood social factors, civic engagement for a better neighborhood was consistently positively associated with all 3 outcomes: light-intensity AOP (B = 3.47; 95% CI, 1.35-5.60), moderate- to vigorous-intensity AOP (B = 1.45; 95% CI, 0.31-2.58), and total AOP (B = 4.92; 95% CI, 1.95-7.89). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that targeting the neighborhood social environment may be important in interventions promoting AOP among preschool-aged children. In particular, civic engagement for a better neighborhood may enable collective action to address neighborhood-level concerns such as improving safety for children's AOP when individual efforts are insufficient.