The moderating role of parent perceptions in relationships between objectively measured neighbourhood environment attributes and pre-schooler's physical activity: Findings from the PLAYCE study

Profile of the PLAY spaces & environments for children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep (PLAYCE) cohort study, Western Australia

BACKGROUND

Childhood is a critical period for the development of movement behaviours such as physical activity, sleep and sedentary behaviour. The PLAYCE Cohort was established to investigate how movement behaviours change over early to middle childhood, across key behaviour settings and relationships with health and development. An overview of the PLAYCE cohort, summary of key findings to date, and future research opportunities are presented.

METHODS

Children were recruited at 2-5 years of age (preschool; Wave 1) via early childhood education and care (ECEC) services and were followed up in junior primary school (5-7 years; Wave 2) at 8-10 years (Wave 3) and again at 11-13 years (Wave 4; in progress). Children's movement behaviours were measured via parent-report and accelerometry. Social-emotional development, motor development, weight status, diet, and child and family socio-demographics were parent-reported. Physical environmental features of children's key behaviour settings (home, neighbourhood, ECEC and school) were collected using geo-spatial and audit data.

RESULTS TO DATE

At wave 1 (2-5 years), only 8% of children met all three recommendations of the Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years. Meeting all recommendations (8%) was positively associated with boys social-emotional development. Physical environment features of the home yard (size, play equipment, natural features) were positively associated with preschool children's physical activity. Tree canopy and more portable play equipment in ECEC outdoor areas was also positively associated with children's outdoor time and physical activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Wave 4 (11-13 years) data collection will be completed in early 2026. Traditional longitudinal and compositional data analysis of the PLAYCE cohort will be undertaken. Four waves of data will provide detailed patterns of movement behaviours and their effect on child health and development as well as the environmental influences on children's movement behaviours across early to middle childhood. The findings can be used to inform national and international 24-Hour Movement Guidelines and behaviour setting-specific as well as population-level interventions to benefit child health and wellbeing across early to middle childhood.

Understanding variations in the built environment over time to inform longitudinal studies of young children's physical activity behaviour - The BEACHES project

We know relatively little about the role the neighbourhood built environment plays in promoting young children's physical activity, particularly its longitudinal effect either through repeated exposure to the same environment or through change in exposure by moving from one neighbourhood to another. This study characterised the neighbourhood environment of young children in the PLAYCE cohort study over three timepoints from 2015 to 2023. There were statistically significant differences in built environment attributes between timepoints and across socio-economic status, however they did not represent practically significant differences. These findings inform the analysis approach of subsequent research in the BEACHES Project, an international study examining the role of the built environment on child physical activity and obesity using multiple cohorts.

Parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and preschool children's outdoor play: An exploration of sex and safety type differences

Despite the growing evidence on the influence of neighborhood safety on physical activity, few studies have specifically focused on preschool-aged children and differentiated the various domains of neighborhood safety. This study investigates the relationship between parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and preschool children's time spent outdoors and explores potential sex differences in this relationship. This study analyzed nationally representative data from 1656 Korean children (848 boys and 808 girls) aged 3, 5, 6 years collected over the course of three waves of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). Outdoor playtime was measured by maternal reports of the time their children spent playing outdoors on a typical weekday. Parental perceptions of neighborhood safety were assessed using two items that inquired about neighborhood safety in terms of crime and accidents, respectively. Fixed effects estimates revealed that parental perceptions of social safety were associated with an increase in children's outdoor physical activity (b = 3.778, p < 0.05), whereas perceptions of physical safety were not. Sex-stratified models showed that the association between parental perceptions of social safety and children's outdoor play was driven largely by boys (b = 8.498, p < 0.001), with no association observed for girls. The findings of this study underscore the importance of addressing the social safety of neighborhood environments to promote outdoor play in preschool children. Moreover, sex differences should be considered when developing interventions aimed at increasing physical activity among young children.

Transforming leisure time physical activity into a habit through social institutions

Physical activity is a positive health behavior that has been shown to reduce the risk of physical and mental illnesses; There's strong evidence suggesting that Physical activity, as one of the components of a healthy lifestyle, if transformed into a consistent behavior or habit early in life, becomes easier to sustain throughout the lifecycle and leads to valuable outcomes for the society's health in various physical, mental, and social dimensions. Each social institution, considering its unique role and characteristics, can contribute to shaping individuals' behaviors in societies. Consequently, identifying the role of social institutions in the development of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) as a regular activity and a behavioral habit can result in the selection and implementation of highly effective intervention strategies. Therefore, this research aimed to present a model of the role of social institutions in institutionalizing leisure-time physical activity among Iranian adolescent girls. To collect data, the questionnaires were employed, and for presenting the model, structural equation modeling was utilized. Data analysis showed that the role of three social institutions in the institutionalization of physical activities including habituation, objectification and sedimentation was confirmed, although sedimentation was confirmed in all three institutions at the 0.05 level, which indicates that factors in this area can be investigated. Examining the role of social institutions in institutionalizing behaviors may vary across different ages and genders, which is open to investigation in future studies.