title: Walkable school neighborhoods are not playable neighborhoods.
abstract: The objectives were to determine whether: (1) playability features differed across walkable and non-walkable school neighborhoods, and (2) physical activity differed in children living in walkable and non-walkable school neighborhoods. A total of 3912 grade 6-8 students from 132 school neighborhoods were studied. There was more developed park space in high walkability neighborhoods than low walkability neighborhoods. Other playability features were more preferable in the low (e.g., undeveloped treed and water areas) and moderate (e.g., physical disorder/esthetics) walkability neighborhoods. Children from low walkability neighborhoods were more likely to engage in free-time physical activity outside of school and to achieve recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity than were children from high walkability neighborhoods.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6. Electronic address: ian.janssen@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014186:Transportation; D016138:Walking
keywords: Child; Environment; Health surveys; Motor activity; Walking