This longitudinal study described park usage and assessed the contribution of parks to moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls. High school girls from California (n = 131) and Minnesota (n = 134) wore a global positioning system (GPS) monitor and accelerometer for 6 consecutive days at two time points, one year apart. Park visits were classified by linking the GPS, accelerometer, and park and built environment data around home and school locations into a geographic information system. At baseline, 20% of girls visited a park at least once (mean 0.1 times/day), which was similar one year later (19%, mean 0.1 times/day). Girls lived a mean Euclidean distance of 0.2 miles to the nearest park at both times. Among all park visits, the mean Euclidean distance of the park visited was 4.1 (baseline) and 3.9 miles (follow-up). The average duration of park visits was higher at baseline (63.9 minutes) compared to follow-up (38.4 minutes). On days when a park was visited, MVPA was higher than on days when a park was not visited. On average, 1.9% (baseline) and 2.8% (follow-up) of MVPA occurred in parks. In this study, parks were an under-used resource for adolescent girls, particularly for MVPA.
Keywords: Geographic information system; global positioning system; parks and recreation; physical activity; sedentary behavior.