Variations in observed park physical activity intensity level by gender, race, and age: individual and joint effects

Parks are important settings for physical activity (PA), but few studies have documented the actual behaviors of park users. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual and joint effects of various park user demographic characteristics on observed PA intensity levels. Four parks were obs...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physical activity & health 2011-09, Vol.8 Suppl 2 (s2), p.S151-S160
Main Authors: Kaczynski, Andrew T, Wilhelm Stanis, Sonja A, Hastmann, Tanis J, Besenyi, Gina M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Age Factors
Child
Child, Preschool
Continental Population Groups - statistics & numerical data
Environment Design
Ethnic Groups
Exercise
Female
Gender
Health Behavior
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Missouri
Motor Activity - physiology
Parks & recreation areas
Pilot Projects
Recreation - physiology
Social Justice
Young Adult
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Parks are important settings for physical activity (PA), but few studies have documented the actual behaviors of park users. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual and joint effects of various park user demographic characteristics on observed PA intensity levels. Four parks were observed using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities. Observers recorded the age group, gender, race, and intensity level of all park users in 83 activity areas over two weekends at each park. Logistic regression examined whether male/White, female/White, and male/non-White users were more likely than female/non-White users to be observed engaging in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) rather than sedentary activity across 4 age groups. In total, 8612 users were observed during the study. In the child age group, male/White users were significantly more likely to be observed in MVPA than female/non-White users. For teens, female/White and male/White users were less likely to engage in MVPA. For both adults and seniors, female/White and male/White users were more likely to be observed in MVPA. Observations revealed significant differences in intensity levels across gender, age, and race groups. Future interventions should emphasize park design that promotes increased MVPA among diverse groups.
ISSN:1543-3080
1543-5474
DOI:10.1123/jpah.8.s2.s151