Critical Hours and Important Environments: Relationships between Afterschool Physical Activity and the Physical Environment Using GPS, GIS and Accelerometers in 10–12-Year-Old Children

Teun Remmers, Carel Thijs, Dick Ettema, Sanne de Vries, Menno Slingerland and Stef Kremers
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Teun Remmers: School of Sport Studies, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, 5644 HZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Carel Thijs: CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University (Medical Center+), 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
Dick Ettema: Department of Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
Sanne de Vries: Research Group Healthy Lifestyle in a Supporting Environment, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, 2533 SR The Hague, The Netherlands
Menno Slingerland: School of Sport Studies, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, 5644 HZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Stef Kremers: NUTRIM School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University (Medical Center+), 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-20

Abstract: Introduction: The objective of this study was to assess relationships between children’s physical environment and afterschool leisure time physical activity (PA) and active transport. Methods: Children aged 10–12 years participated in a 7-day accelerometer and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) protocol. Afterschool leisure time PA and active transport were identified based on location- and speed-algorithms based on accelerometer, GPS and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) data. We operationalized children’s exposure to the environment by combining home, school and the daily transport environment in individualized daily activity-spaces. Results: In total, 255 children from 20 Dutch primary schools from suburban areas provided valid data. This study showed that greenspaces and smaller distances from the children’s home to school were associated with afterschool leisure time PA and walking. Greater distances between home and school, as well as pedestrian infrastructure were associated with increased cycling. Conclusion: We demonstrated associations between environments and afterschool PA within several behavioral contexts. Future studies are encouraged to target specific behavioral domains and to develop natural experiments based on interactions between several types of the environment, child characteristics and potential socio-cognitive processes.

Keywords: children; physical activity; accelerometer; GPS; spatial behavior; context-specific (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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