Association Between Nature Attitudes and Physical Activity in Youth From Low-Income Families

We conducted a clinical trial on nature prescriptions measuring baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). 433 children between 6-16 years old completed baseline measures (49.2% female, 50.8% male). Participants self-identified as Latino (88.2%), African-American (9.7%), Asian (0.5%), and other or unknown (1.6%). The mean BMI% was 94.9 (SD 6.2), and mean age is 10.4 years (SD 2.7). The mean MVPA was 16.6 minutes, the mean daily accelerometer wear time was 728.8 minutes (SD 126.6), and the average number of days the participant wore the accelerometer for >8 hours (per day) was 6.8 (SD 3.8). Multivariate regression analysis showed that age was not associated with MVPA. However, boys engaged in 38 more minutes of MVPA per week than girls (P < .0001). Season was associated with MVPA with 5.4 more minutes of MVPA/day in the Fall (P < .01) and 4.8 more minutes in Spring (P < .01) as compared to winter and summer. Participant attitude toward nature was significantly associated with MVPA. One unit of positive increase in individual attitude toward nature was associated with 3 additional minutes of MVPA per day (β = 3.1, P < .001), or 21.7 minutes per week.