Associations between the home yard and preschoolers’ outdoor play and physical activity

摘要

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). Study type: Cross-sectional observational study. Methods: 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. Results: 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 ?