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Relationship between children's physical activity, sedentary behavior, and childcare environments: A cross sectional

Michele E Peden1, Rachel Jones1, Silvia Costa2

  • 1Early Start Research Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

Preventive Medicine Reports
|March 29, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Childcare environments impact young children's activity levels. High-quality childcare settings with fewer sedentary areas and more portable play equipment help reduce sitting time in toddlers and preschoolers.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Environmental Health
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Childcare settings significantly influence the daily physical activity and sedentary behavior of young children.
  • Understanding the impact of the childcare environment is crucial for promoting healthy development in toddlers and preschoolers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between the childcare environment, assessed by the Environment and Policy Assessment Observation (EPAO) instrument, and the physical activity and sedentary behavior of toddlers and preschoolers.
  • To identify specific environmental factors within childcare services that are associated with children's activity and sitting time.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study involving 68 toddlers (1.0-2.9 years) and 233 preschoolers (3.0-5.9 years) from 11 childcare services in Australia.
  • Childcare environments were categorized as low, medium, or high based on EPAO scores. Physical activity and sitting time were measured over one week using activPAL accelerometers.
  • Multilevel mixed-effects linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between the EPAO and children's behaviors.

Main Results:

  • Toddlers in high EPAO childcare services exhibited more sitting time (8.73 min) and less standing time (-13.64 min) compared to those in low EPAO services.
  • Preschoolers in high EPAO services showed reduced sitting time (-7.81 min) compared to those in low and medium EPAO services.
  • Specific EPAO sub-categories associated with less sitting included sedentary environments for toddlers and the availability of portable play equipment for preschoolers.

Conclusions:

  • The childcare environment plays a differential role in the physical activity and sedentary behavior of toddlers and preschoolers.
  • Sedentary environments in childcare are linked to increased sitting time for toddlers, while portable play equipment is associated with reduced sitting time for preschoolers.
  • Further research is needed to fully understand how childcare environments influence sitting time across different age groups of young children.

Keywords:
Child careInterventionPhysical activityPreschool

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