Active children use more locations for physical activity

We examined frequency of use of 11 physical activity (PA) locations among 539 San Diego children (45.0% males, 41.2% Latinos; mean±SD age: 6.6±0.7 years) and explored associations between location use, PA and potential correlates. Parents reported child's use (visits/week) of 11 locations. Child PA was assessed by accelerometry (subsample n=178). The most frequently used locations (mean±SD times/week) were homes (3.2±2.3) and parks/playground (1.6±1.3). Children used 4.0±2.0 locations in a typical week, and made a total of 12.5±6.8 visits/week to all locations. Latinos used fewer locations regularly (3.6±2.1 vs. 4.3±1.9 locations; p<0.001) and had fewer visits to all locations (11.4±7.4 vs. 13.2±6.4 visits/week; p=0.003) than non-Latinos. Accelerometry-assessed vigorous PA (VPA) was positively associated with the number of locations regularly used (ß=0.04, p=0.03) and total visits to all locations among Latinos (ß=0.09, p=0.005). Parental PA support was positively associated with locations used (ß=0.64, p<0.001) and visits to all locations (ß=2.56, p<0.001). Children using a greater variety of locations did more VPA. Latinos making more total visits to all locations had higher VPA.