Informed

Independent mobility and child physical activity

The PEACH Project (Personal Environmental Associations with Children’s Health) aims to investigate how a young person's environment (physical, school or home) may affect their levels of physical activity, eating behaviours and, subsequently, levels of obesity. The project has been funded by WCRF UK for three years and is currently underway. About 1,300 primary school children aged 10 to 11 from Bristol were recruited between 2006 and 2008 and will be followed up two years later.

At the start of the project the children were given an accelerometer to wear for a week to measure their physical activity alongside completing a questionnaire to measure factors believed to be associated with eating behaviours, physical activity and obesity. One of these factors was independent mobility, which refers to children’s perception of their opportunities to move around their neighbourhood unaccompanied by an adult. Results from assessments made at the start of the project show that boys were more physically active and had greater independent mobility than girls. It also showed that higher independent mobility was related to higher levels of physical activity on weekdays for both boys and girls [1].

Understanding the factors that influence independent mobility is necessary to determine the best environment that encourages adult carers to allow their children to be physically active outside unsupervised. The work in progress will look at factors related to obesity, such as eating behaviours and physical activity, that may change when children move to secondary school.

Healthy lifestyles developed in childhood are important as they often follow through to healthy lifestyles in adulthood. An understanding of the factors that influence healthy eating and regular physical activity is important.

References

1. Page AS. 2009, Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 6: 2.