A Quantitative Examination of Park Characteristics Related to Park Use and Physical Activity Among Urban Youth

Perceptions of Neighborhood Park Quality: Associations with Physical Activity and Body Mass Index

“…Perceptions of neighborhood park quality were measured on a 5-point scale (10strongly disagree and 50strongly agree) using seven items adapted from previous qualitative and quantitative research [7,16,32,35,[50][51][52]. Respondents indicated their agreement with statements about "parks in their neighborhood" that related to cleanliness, availability of facilities of interest, how well used the parks are, attractiveness, safety, maintenance, and the extent to which parks are a benefit to the neighborhood (see Table 3 for full items).…”

“…Furthermore, as perceptions and meanings of parks can be formed even without having visited [31], understanding nonvisitor residents' perceptions of their neighborhood parks is also important. Most research on perceptions of park characteristics and physical activity has focused on perceptions of access and availability [24,25,29,32]. For example, Hoehner et al [25] found that recreational activity was associated with perceived access to recreational facilities (e.g., parks and walking trails).…”

“…For example, Hoehner et al [25] found that recreational activity was associated with perceived access to recreational facilities (e.g., parks and walking trails). Ries et al [32] found that the perception of more availability of parks was positively associated with weekly minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.…”

“…Specifically, perceived safety [33], perceived availability of facilities [25,34], perceived maintenance and condition of facilities [35,36], perceived attractiveness [16,37], and perceived use [32,38] are related to park use or physical activity. For example, Ries et al [32] found that greater perceived park quality pertaining to the amenities available, maintenance, aesthetics, and safety was associated with more than two times greater odds of using parks, but no association was found between park quality and physical activity. In another self-reported study, availability and quality of equipment and safety were found to be related to more vigorous physical activity [36].…”

“…Only a few have examined perceptions of park quality such as condition or aesthetics [32], and even less research has examined them collectively. Consequently, additional research is needed to better understand perceptions of park characteristics, particularly pertaining to park quality, and how quality perceptions relate to physical activity and health.…”