The Effect of Season and Neighbourhood-Built Environment on Home Area Sedentary Behaviour in 9-14 Year Old Children

Abstract

There is little understanding of how the built environment shapes activity behaviours in children over different seasons. This study sought to establish how seasonal weather patterns, in a given year in a mid-western Canadian city, affect sedentary time (SED) in youth and how the relationship between season and SED are moderated by the built environment in their home neighbourhood. Families with children aged 9-14 years were recruited from the prairie city of Saskatoon, Canada. Location-specific, device-based SED was captured in children during three timeframes over a one-year period using GPS-paired accelerometers. Multilevel models are presented. Children accumulated significantly greater levels of SED in spring but significantly less SED in the fall months in comparison to the winter months. Children living in neighbourhoods with the highest density of destinations accumulated significantly less SED while in their home area in comparison to their counterparts, and this effect was more pronounced in the spring and summer months. On weekends, the rise in sedentariness within the home area was completely diminished in children living in neighbourhoods with the greatest number of destinations and highest activity friendliness. These results suggested that increasing neighbourhood amenities can lead to a reduced sedentariness of youth, though more so in the warmers months of the year.

Keywords: adolescents; built environment; children; physical activity; physical behaviour; season; sedentary behaviour; sedentary time.

Figure 1

Study timeline, participation and data collection, seasonality and active saskatoon kids (SASK) study. SED: sedentary time.

Figure 2

The effect of season on home area sedentary time (SED) in children is moderated by home neighbourhood built environment. The presented predicted effects are derived from multilevel models level 3 non-main effects interaction terms presented in Table A1 (model 1: season*NALP (Neighbourhood Active Living Potential) activity friendliness; model 2: season*IMI (Irvine Minnesota Inventory) pedestrian access; model 3: IMI safety from traffic). 95% CI are shown as vertical bars.

Figure 3

The effect of annual household income and weekends (vs. weekdays) on home area sedentary time (SED) in children are moderated by the built-environment characteristics of the home neighbourhood. Shown predicted effects are derived from the multilevel models presented in Appendix A, Table A1 (Model 4: weekday*NALP density of destination; Model 7: weekday*NALP–IMI combined score; Model 5: income*IMI safety from crime; Model 6: income*IMI cumulative score). 95% CIs are shown as vertical bars or grey ribbons.