Outdoor play: A survey of parent's perceptions of their child's safety

Anecdotal reports suggest that parents may be restricting outdoor play in response to a perceived lack of safety and fear of violence and crime in urban environments. The study objective was to determine whether parents who perceived their neighborhood as unsafe would be most likely to restrict their child's outdoor play and report the greatest worries related to neighborhood characteristics.

A convenience sample of primary caregivers of children aged 5 years to 7 years were recruited from a pediatric primary care center based at an urban academic children's hospital. Study participants completed a 23-question survey available in English and Spanish.

Two hundred fifty-four parents completed the survey. Most were English speakers (69%), female (89%), and aged between 21 years and 35 years (76%). Sixty-two percent let their child play outside often or sometimes; whereas 19% reported never allowing their child to play outside. Parents were less likely to allow outside play as their degree of worry increased about traffic (p < 0.0001), rundown parks (p < 0.003), crime (p < 0.0001), witnessing violence (p < 0.0001), being a victim of violence (p < 0.0009), drugs (p < 0.0001), gangs (p < 0.004), and weapons (p < 0.003). Frequency of outdoor play was not correlated with the sex or age of the child or number of children in the family. Spanish speakers were less likely to allow outside play (p < 0.008) but more likely to allow unsupervised play (p < 0.03).

Decreased frequency of outdoor play correlated with increased parental concerns about safety, however, many parents still report allowing outdoor play at least sometimes.