Grass Routes: An observational analysis of how children use green spaces

Abstract

Aim This research aimed to investigate whether there is inequality relating to the use of green space among different demographic groups and disadvantaged populations.

Method Children’s use of green space was observed by coding images from a large database of photographs (the Kids’Cam database) taken by cameras worn by participants aged 11 to13 years in the Wellington region over a four-day period in 2014/15. Images of participant’s interaction with green space were coded by the type of green space they were in, the kind of activity they were engaged in and who they were with. This data was compared with the data on participant’s gender, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), school decile and socioeconomic deprivation (NZiDep).

Results and Conclusions Just over half of the participants (58%) used green space at least once, with a mean frequency (m) of 4.2 visits to green spaces over a period of four days. On average, participants spent 36.2 minutes in green space per visit. Children from schools with a higher proportion of students who are of low deprivation, used green space most often (m=10.7 visits), and for longer periods of time (m = 125.4 minutes) while those from middle deprivation schools used green space the least (m=1.9 visits and 14.6 minutes), followed by those from high deprivation schools (m = 4.7 visits and 31.3 minutes), with p-values for the difference between school deciles on both the frequency and duration of visits below 0.001.

In addition, female participants used green space more frequently and for a longer duration (m = 5.8 visits, m= 50.3 minutes) than males did (m=2.4 visits, m=20.3 minutes) with p-values below 0.05.

Results also showed that most of the time spent in green space was using public green spaces as opposed to private green spaces. Participants visited fields and private green spaces most frequently but spent most of their time in playgrounds and beaches. On most occasions participants in green spaces were accompanied by another person (84.7%) and they were with an adult just over half of the time they were in green spaces (59.1%). In addition, weaker results indicated that there may be trends related to NZiDep, BMI, and ethnic group worth further investigation.