Barriers to Physical Activity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Relationship to Physical Activity and Screen Time.
BACKGROUND
Individual, social, and community barriers to physical activity (PA) experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make PA participation more difficult and may contribute to increased screen time.


METHODS
We compared the prevalence of parent-reported barriers to PA among 58 typically developing (TD) children and 53 children with an ASD, 3 to 11 years, and assessed the association between barriers and PA participation and screen time among children with ASD.


RESULTS
Parents of children with ASD reported significantly more barriers than parents of TD children. Based on parent-report, 60% of children with ASD required too much supervision compared with no TD children (P < .001). Parents of children with ASD were more likely to report that adults lack skills needed to include their child (58%), that their child has few friends (45%), and that other children exclude their child (23%). The number of parent-reported barriers to PA was inversely correlated with the hours spent in PA per year (r = -0.27, P = .05) and positively related to total screen time (r = .32, P < .03).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings underscore the need for community-based PA programs designed to meet the special requirements of this population and policies that compel schools and other government-supported organizations for inclusion and/or targeted programming.
Dept of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA.
Aviva
A
Must
Sarah
S
Phillips
Carol
C
Curtin
Linda G
LG
Bandini
D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003201:Computers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D013690:Television / Q000706:statistics & numerical data