Social-ecological correlates of children’s outdoor time: a national longitudinal study

Background: Outdoor time (OT) is consistently associated with higher physical activity in children, but has declined over the last few decades, underscoring the need to better understand its correlates.

Purpose: Guided by the social-ecological model, we investigated correlates of parent-reported OT in Canadian children.

Methods: In December 2020, we recruited 2,291 parents of 7- to 12-year-olds across Canada and followed up every 6 months until June 2022 (4 assessments). We asked parents to report their child’s OT on weekdays and weekend days during the previous week. Based on the observed distribution, we recoded OT as <2 hours/day vs. ≥2 hours/day. We employed generalized estimating equations to investigate the correlates of OT and tested the moderating effect of gender with interaction terms.

Results: Higher child and parent age, concerns about COVID-19, not having a dog, attending school online vs. in person, living in a high- vs. low-income household, and medium to high (but not very high) vs. low neighbourhood walkability were associated with lower odds of spending ≥2 hours/day outdoors. Conversely, higher independent mobility, parent’s perceived behavioral control to support their child’s physical activity, and warmer temperature in the week preceding the survey were associated with higher odds. Children spent more time outdoors in June vs. December surveys. Significant interaction terms indicated that girls had a higher increase in OT than boys since wave 1, but their OT was more negatively associated with parent age. Conversely, the positive effect of independent mobility on OT was greater in boys compared to girls.

Conclusions: Correlates of OT span multiple levels of influence of the social-ecological model and gender moderates some of these relationships.

Practical implications: Our study identified several correlates of OT and suggests that future interventions may need to be tailored by gender.

Funding: Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.