Parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and children's physical activity

Background:

Early adolescence is an important time for children to establish healthy lifestyle habits including regular participation in physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to assess how parental perception of neighborhood safety is associated with PA in children aged 10-12 years.

Methods:

201 parent-child dyads were enrolled from a random sample of HMO members in two distinct geographic areas in Oakland, California. Parents and children were interviewed by telephone about their perceptions of their neighborhood environment including factors related to traffic, social capital, neighborhood aesthetics, and crime. Parents reported the number of days/week their child participated in moderate and vigorous PA. Using ordered logistic regression, we examined the association between the environmental variables and parental reports of children's PA.

Results:

Factors positively associated with parental report of children's vigorous PA included “safety of parks at night” (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.01-2.08) and the “presence of crosswalks and pedestrian signals” (OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.01-1.65). Parental perception about frequency of specific crimes: “murder” (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.40-0.88), “muggings” (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.43-0.96), and “teens carrying guns” (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.38-0.91) as well as a crime frequency summary score (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.31-0.89) were negatively associated with children's vigorous PA.

Conclusions:

Parental perceptions of crime and safety are shown to be associated with their reports of their children's level of physical activity. These results demonstrate the importance of considering neighborhood safety in the development of policies and programs to promote children's PA.