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Roaming the Neighbourhood: Influences of Independent Mobility Parenting Practices and Parental Perceived Environment on Children’s Territorial Range Vlaar, Janae; Brussoni, Mariana; Janssen, Ian; Mâsse, Louise C.

Abstract

Children’s independent mobility (IM), their freedom to move about their neighbourhood without supervision by adults, has been in steady decline in recent decades. Previous research has linked perceptions of the environment with various measures of IM, but recently concerns have been raised regarding inconsistency in measuring IM. This study used various measures of IM and aimed to address how parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment are associated with children’s territorial range (actual IM), as well as how this relationship is mediated by IM parenting practices (allowed IM). A sample of 105 child/parent dyads from Vancouver, Canada participated in this study. Children (age 10–13) wore a global positioning system (GPS) watch and an accelerometer and completed an activity diary for seven days to assess their territorial range. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of their neighbourhood environment and IM parenting practices—license for IM and roaming allowance. Path analyses were used to address the research aims. License for IM and roaming allowance mediated the relationship between perceived walking facilities, crime safety, and neighbourhood relations and children’s territorial range. Findings suggest that future interventions to increase children’s territorial range should focus primarily on attitude and behaviour change among parents to grant children more freedom.

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Title
Roaming the Neighbourhood: Influences of Independent Mobility Parenting Practices and Parental Perceived Environment on Children’s Territorial Range
Creator
Vlaar, Janae; Brussoni, Mariana; Janssen, Ian; Mâsse, Louise C.
Contributor
Children's Hospital (Vancouver, B.C.). Research Institute; B.C. Injury Research and Prevention Unit
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Date Issued
2019-08-28
Description
Children’s independent mobility (IM), their freedom to move about their neighbourhood without supervision by adults, has been in steady decline in recent decades. Previous research has linked perceptions of the environment with various measures of IM, but recently concerns have been raised regarding inconsistency in measuring IM. This study used various measures of IM and aimed to address how parental perceptions of the neighbourhood environment are associated with children’s territorial range (actual IM), as well as how this relationship is mediated by IM parenting practices (allowed IM). A sample of 105 child/parent dyads from Vancouver, Canada participated in this study. Children (age 10–13) wore a global positioning system (GPS) watch and an accelerometer and completed an activity diary for seven days to assess their territorial range. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed perceptions of their neighbourhood environment and IM parenting practices—license for IM and roaming allowance. Path analyses were used to address the research aims. License for IM and roaming allowance mediated the relationship between perceived walking facilities, crime safety, and neighbourhood relations and children’s territorial range. Findings suggest that future interventions to increase children’s territorial range should focus primarily on attitude and behaviour change among parents to grant children more freedom.
Subject
independent mobility; activity spaces; neighbourhood activity; Children and youth (0-19); Adults (20-64); Outdoor/risky play; Injury risk perceptions
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2019-09-09
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
CC BY 4.0
DOI
10.14288/1.0380844
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71651
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Pediatrics, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
Citation
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (17): 3129 (2019)
Publisher DOI
10.3390/ijerph16173129
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Graduate
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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CC BY 4.0