Young children in urban areas: Links among neighborhood characteristics, weight status, outdoor play, and television-watching
Children who play more outside and watch less TV have lower BMIs
The purpose of this study by Kimbro and colleagues was to investigate linkages between outdoor play and TV watching and children’s weight status, as well as linkages between the quality of children’s residential environments and their activities.
Researchers examined data for over 1,800 5-year-old children in major U.S. cities that took part in a large, longitudinal study on child well-being. Kimbro and colleagues examined children’s body mass index (BMI), physical and sedentary activities as reported by mothers, various background and neighborhood characteristics, neighborhood social cohesion as reported by mothers (e.g., whether people are willing to help their neighbors), and physical conditions of the residential environment as measured by researchers (e.g., amount of litter nearby).
Researchers found that 19% of children were overweight (between the 85th and 95th percentile) and 16% were obese (95th percentile or higher). Interestingly, Kimbro and colleagues found that children in the highest and lowest socioeconomic brackets had the lowest BMIs, while children in the middle socioeconomic brackets had the highest BMIs. Researchers also found that, on average, children played outside about 2 hours a day and watched television for more than 2.5 hours a day. In examining relationships between outdoor play, TV watching and children’s weight, Kimbro and colleagues discovered that children who played more outdoors had lower BMIs, while children who watched more TV had higher BMIs. Researchers also found that the higher the ratio of outdoor time to television time, the lower the child’s BMI.
Kimbro and colleagues also investigated socio-demographic differences in children’s outdoor and TV watching behavior. For example, researchers found that Black and Hispanic children spent less time outside than White children, but more time watching TV than White children. In examining the relationship between the quality of children’s residential environments and activities, Kimbro and colleagues discovered that children whose mothers had higher perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion, played outside more, spent fewer hours watching TV, and made more trips to the park or playground. Interestingly, the researchers found that children living in public housing and areas with poorer neighborhood physical conditions played outside more and yet also watched more TV. Based on previous studies, Kimbro and colleagues suggest that children living in public housing and areas with poorer neighborhood physical conditions may have more unstructured time than children living in other conditions and thus are able to fill this time with more outdoor play as well as more television watching.
This study provides a valuable addition to the literature regarding the role that children’s environments have on their active and sedentary behavior.
Citation
Kimbro, R. T., Brooks-Gunn, J., McLanahan, S., (2011). Young children in urban areas: Links among neighborhood characteristics, weight status, outdoor play, and television-watching. Social Science & Medicine, 72(5),
