A novel spatio-temporal examination of children\u27s accessibility, exposure, and engagement to parks and recreation spaces in Middlesex-London, Ontario

Abstract

Children are spending more free time engaged in activities indoors, rather than in outdoor environments such as parks and recreation spaces. Parks and recreation spaces provide amenities that promote physical, cognitive, and social health among children. As it relates to the complexities of children’s living situations, properly measuring children’s levels of interactions with these spaces is poorly understood in geography research. By examining various attributes of children, this thesis improves on the measurement of children’s levels of interactions with parks and recreation spaces. Research herein utilized household survey data, a high-resolution GIS dataset of environmental factors, and GPS logs from participants ages 9-14 years recruited throughout southwestern Ontario for a mixed-methods project conducted in 2010-2013. Sociodemographic characteristics acquired from the survey and GPS tracks of the participants were linked to the GIS dataset, which included regional parks-and-recreation geospatial data. To compare measures for estimating levels of interactions with parks and recreation spaces, the merged dataset was examined through an Accessibility-Exposure-Engagement framework. Statistical tests revealed relationships between children’s home locations or sociodemographic characteristics, and levels of accessibility/exposure/engagement with specific parks and recreation amenities. Hierarchical regression modelling, with blocks containing sociodemographic variables, assessed the influence of individual, interpersonal, social, and built-environment characteristics on children’s proportion of free time in parks and recreation spaces. Results suggest measures of home location’s proximity to parks and recreation spaces do not represent frequency of exposure or duration of engagement to them by children. Child gender, visible minority status, and urbanicity are associated with proportion of free time in parks and recreation spaces. Moving forward, geography research should utilize the most accurate methods for estimating children’s levels of interactions with health-positive environments such as parks and recreation spaces