Is a school's playability linked to children's activity after school?

Details

Physical activity takes place in different behavioral domains, such as sports and active transport, and distinct environmental factors affect each domain. Using children's school schedules to filter objectively measured activity can separate daily activity into more conceptually meaningful domains.

In an ecological study, researchers investigated associations between the playability of 21 school environments and children's objectively measured after-school physical activity. They also examined how the association varied across after-school time periods and with the distance between children's homes and schools.

Accelerometers measured physical activity in 587 children aged 8–11 years, and after-school activity was divided into four two-hour periods. For each school environment, the researchers calculated standardized playability scores using standardized audits within 800 m network buffers around the school. They geocoded schools and children's residences and classified each child by residence within 400, 800, 1,600 or more than 1,600 m straight-line buffers from school. They also examined the influence of network-distance buffers using the same approach.

Playability was associated with light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity after school, especially immediately after school and among children living within 800 m of their school. Playability explained approximately 30% of the variance in after-school physical activity between schools. The association between school-environment playability and after-school activity weakened as the distance between home and school increased.

The researchers concluded that relationships between a conceptually matched physical environment and physical activity can be revealed and made plausible by increasing specificity in time and distance.