Associations between the Home Physical Environment and Children’s Home-Based Physical Activity and Sitting

Abstract

It is important to understand the correlates of children’s physical activity (PA) and sitting at home, where children spend significant time. The home social environment has an important influence; however, much less is known about the home physical environment. Therefore, the study aimed to assess relationships between the physical environment and children’s sitting and PA at home. In total, 235 child-parent dyads were included in the analyses. Children spent 67% of their time at home sitting. Linear regression analyses examined associations between physical home environmental factors obtained via an audit and children’s (55% girl, 10.2 ± 0.7) objective PA and sitting at home. Following adjustment for socio-demographics and social environmental factors, an open plan living area (OPLA), musical instrument accessibility and availability, and perceived house size were negatively and positively associated, whereas media equipment accessibility and availability was positively and negatively associated with sitting and standing, respectively. Additionally, an OPLA was positively associated with total and moderate-to-vigorous PA. Furthermore, sitting breaks were positively associated with objective garden size and negatively associated with digital TV. The physical home environment may have an important influence on children’s sitting, standing and PA at home; therefore, interventions that target this environment are needed.

Recommendations for Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

“…With advancing age, it becomes more difficult to reverse the effects of deconditioning of the musculoskeletal system. Children and adolescents have higher PA needs than adults, and these are more difficult to achieve during the quarantine period, also due to the influence of home environment (11). Both physical and social environmental factors operating within the home space are indeed important influences on SB and PA, especially for the pediatric population (12).…”

Influence of the characteristics of the house and place of residence in the daily educational activities of children during the period of COVID-19’ confinement

“…For Sheldrick et al. (2019) , the social environment of the home (human group that lives nearby and with approximately the same characteristics) has a notable influence on the behavior of children and their education.…”

“…The physical environment is also decisive, understanding as a physical environment that linked to the architectural design of the house and that meets the needs and expectations of its inhabitants. Children usually carry out extracurricular physical activities ( Martín-Espinosa et al., 2018 ), but they also spend 67% of their time at home sitting ( Sheldrick et al., 2019 ). These latter authors indicate that an open plan living area (OPLA: open plan living area) and the perceived size of the house were positively associated with greater practice of physical activity.…”

Associations between Home Environment, Children’s and Parents’ Characteristics and Children’s TV Screen Time Behavior

“…Within the home environment, parents play a pivotal role in pre-school children’s screen time sedentary behavior. Parents’ sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics, such as education level and role modeling for sedentary behavior, are associated with children’s screen time [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. For example, children whose parents had a lower level of education had more overall screen time at home compared with children whose parents had a higher education level [ 19 ].…”