Dog walking is associated with more outdoor play and independent mobility for children

Hayley Christian; Georgina Trapp; Karen Villanueva; Stephen R Zubrick; Rachelle Koekemoer; Billie Giles-Corti

Journal article

Dog walking is associated with more outdoor play and independent mobility for children

Hayley Christian, Georgina Trapp, Karen Villanueva, Stephen R Zubrick, Rachelle Koekemoer, Billie Giles-Corti

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE | ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE | Published : 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.08.002

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Dog ownership is positively associated with children's physical activity. It is plausible that dog-facilitated activity rather than dog ownership per se encourages children's physical activity behaviors. We examined relationships between dog walking and children's physical activity, and outdoor play and independent mobility. METHOD: Cross-sectional survey data from the 2007 Perth (Western Australia) TRavel, Environment, and Kids (TREK) project were analyzed for 727 10-12 year olds with a family dog. Weekly minutes of overall physical activity and walking, local walking and outdoor play were collected from children and parents. Children's weekly pedometer steps were measured. Indep..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Billie Giles-Corti Author Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Related Projects (1)

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN URBAN PLANNING AND HEALTH AND THE APPLICATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF AUSTRALIANS BY CREATING MORE HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Globally there is growing concern about the health, social, environmental, and economic impacts of rising levels of inactivity and obesity, ..

Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Awarded by NHMRC/National Heart Foundation

Awarded by NHMRC

Funding Acknowledgements

The TREK study received funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; #403933). Hayley Christian is supported by a NHMRC/National Heart Foundation Early Career Fellowship (#1036350). Georgina Trapp is supported by a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1073233) and Billie Giles-Corti is supported by a NHMRC Principal Research Fellow Award (#1004900). The authors acknowledge the contributions of the TREK study chief investigators Anna Timperio (Deakin University, Victoria, Australia), Gavin McCormack (University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Max Bulsara (University of Notre Dame, Western Australia). Ms Pulan Bai provided administrative assistance.