Canadian children's independent mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national survey

Richard Larouche; Mathieu Bélanger; Mariana Brussoni; Guy Faulkner; Katie Gunnell; Mark S Tremblay

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103019

Canadian children's independent mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national survey

Health Place. 2023 May:81:103019. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103019. Epub 2023 Mar 24.

Authors

Richard Larouche¹, Mathieu Bélanger², Mariana Brussoni³, Guy Faulkner⁴, Katie Gunnell⁵, Mark S Tremblay⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada. Electronic address: richard.larouche@uleth.ca.
² Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de La Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada.
⁴ School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
⁶ Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, CHEO Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; Department of Health Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Abstract

Independent mobility (IM) is associated with children's physical activity and indicators of social, motor, and cognitive development. We surveyed Canadian parents of 7- to 12-year-olds (n = 2291) about social-ecological correlates of IM in the second wave of COVID-19 (December 2020). We used multi-variable linear regression models to identify correlates of children's IM. Our final model (R² = 0.353) included four individual-, eight family-, two social environment- and two built environment-level variables. The correlates of boys' and girls' IM were similar. Our findings suggest that interventions to support children's IM in a pandemic context should target multiple levels of influence.

Keywords: Children's independent mobility; Coronavirus; Correlates; Parents; Social-ecological model.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Canada / epidemiology
Child
Exercise
Female
Humans
Male
Pandemics*
Parents / psychology
Social Environment