Abstract
Objectives:
There is a growing belief that green space (for example, parks) help prevent obesity. There is evidence of an inverse association between green space and childhood body mass index (BMI); however, the majority of these studies are cross-sectional. Longitudinal studies that track change in BMI across childhood in relation to levels of green space proximity would improve the quality of evidence available for decision making.
Methods:
Objectively measured BMI was obtained every 2 years between 2006 and 2012 for 4423 participants initially aged 6–7 years in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The LSAC is a nationally representative study on a range of health and socio-demographic measures. Using Australian Bureau of Statistics mesh block data, which classify small scale land areas based on the main usage, each participant was assigned an objective measure of green space availability within their Statistical Area (level 2) of residence. Gender-stratified multilevel linear regression was used to estimate BMI growth curves across childhood in relation to green space availability. Family income, Australian Indigenous status, mothers’ education and language spoken were used to adjust for socio-economic confounding.
Results:
Age was found to be an effect modifier of associations between green space and BMI for boys (P=0.005) and girls (P=0.048). As children grew older, an inverse patterning of BMI by green space availability emerged. These findings held after adjustment for socio-economic circumstances for boys (P=0.009), though were less robust for girls after this adjustment (P=0.056).
Conclusion:
A beneficial effect of green space on BMI emerges as children grow older. However, there was little additional benefit after a modest amount of green space was met. Further research is needed to understand whether the drivers of this effect are from age-specific mechanisms, or whether the benefit of living in a greener neighbourhood is accumulated through childhood.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bell JF, Wilson JS, Liu GC . Neighborhood greenness and 2-year changes in body mass index of children and youth. Am J Prev Med 2008; 35: 547–553.
Cohen DA, McKenzie TL, Sehgal A, Williamson S, Golinelli D, Lurie N . Contribution of public parks to physical activity. Am J Public Health 2007; 97: 509–514.
Gordon-Larsen P, Nelson MC, Page P, Popkin BM . Inequality in the built environment underlies key health disparities in physical activity and obesity. Pediatrics 2006; 117: 417–424.
Veugelers P, Sithole F, Zhang S, Muhajarine N . Neighborhood characteristics in relation to diet, physical activity and overweight of Canadian children. Int J Pediatr Obes 2008; 3: 152–159.
Potestio ML, Patel AB, Powell CD, McNeil DA, Jacobson RD, McLaren L . Is there an association between spatial access to parks/green space and childhood overweight/obesity in Calgary, Canada? Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2009; 6: 77–86.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Greener neighborhoods, slimmer people? Evidence from 246 920 Australians. Int J Obes (Lond) 2014; 38: 156–159.
Coombes E, Jones AP, Hillsdon M . The relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green space accessibility and use. Soc Sci Med 2010; 70: 816–822.
Ellaway A, Macintyre S, Bonnefoy X . Graffiti, greenery, and obesity in adults: Secondary analysis of European cross sectional survey. BMJ 2005; 331: 611–612.
Nielsen TS, Hansen KB . Do green areas affect health? Results from a Danish survey on the use of green areas and health indicators. Health Place 2007; 13: 839–850.
Lachowycz K, Jones AP . Towards a better understanding of the relationship between greenspace and health: Development of a theoretical framework. Landscape and Urban Planning 2013; 118: 62–69.
Kuh D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Lynch J, Hallqvist J, Power C . Life course epidemiology. J Epidemiol Community Health 2003; 57: 778–783.
Astell-Burt T, Mitchell R, Hartig T . The association between green space and mental health varies across the lifecourse. A longitudinal study. J Epidemiol Community Health 2014; 68: 578–583.
Carver A, Watson B, Shaw B, Hillman M . A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia. Children's Geographies 2013; 11: 461–475.
Roemmich JN, Epstein LH, Raja S, Yin L . The neighborhood and home environments: disparate relationships with physical activity and sedentary behaviors in youth. Ann Behav Med 2007; 33: 29–38.
Soloff C, Lawrence D, Johnstone R . LSAC technical paper number 1: Sample design, 2005, http://www.growingupinaustralia.gov.au/pubs/technical/tp1.pdf.
Soloff C, Lawrence D, Misson S, Johnstone R . LSAC technical paper number 3: Wave 1 weighting and non-response, 2006, http://www.growingupinaustralia.gov.au/pubs/technical/tp3.pdf.
Australian Bureau of Statistics Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing 2011. Australian Bureau of Statistics: Canberra.
Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH . Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: International survey. BMJ 2000; 320: 1240–1243.
Cole TJ, Freeman JV, Preece MA . Body mass index reference curves for the UK, 1990. Arch Dis Child 1995; 73: 25–29.
Wake M, Hardy P, Canterford L, Sawyer MG, Carlin JB . Overweight, obesity and girth of Australian preschoolers: Prevalence and socio-economic correlates. Int J Obes (Lond) 2007; 31: 1044–1051.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas. 2011, Australian Bureau of Statistics: Canberra.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Information Paper, Draft Mesh Blocks. 2005, Australian Bureau of Statistics: Canberra.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Mental health benefits of neighbourhood green space are stronger among physically active adults in middle-to-older age: Evidence from 260,061 Australians. Prev Med 2013; 57: 601–606.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Does access to neighbourhood green space promote a healthy duration of sleep? Novel findings from a cross-sectional study of 259 319 Australians. BMJ Open 2013; 3: e003094.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Neighbourhood green space and the odds of having skin cancer: multilevel evidence of survey data from 267 072 Australians. J Epidemiol Community Health 2013; 68: 370–374.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Is neighborhood green space associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes? Evidence from 267,072 Australians. Diabetes Care 2014; 37: 197–201.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Green space is associated with walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in middle-to-older-aged adults: findings from 203 883 Australians in the 45 and Up Study. Br J Sports Med 2014; 48: 404–406.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Mavoa S, Badland H, Giles-Corti B . Do low-income neighbourhoods have the least green space? A cross-sectional study of Australia's most populous cities. BMC Public Health 2014; 14: 292–302.
Ou L, Chen J, Hillman K, Eastwood J . The comparison of health status and health services utilisation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous infants in Australia. Aust N Z J Public Health 2010; 34: 50–56.
Blakemore T, Strazdins L, Gibbings J . Measuring family socioeconomic position. Aust Soc Policy J 2009; 8: 121–168.
Magee C, Caputi P, Iverson D . Identification of distinct body mass index trajectories in Australian children. Pediatric Obesity 2012; 8: 189–198.
Kwok O-M, Underhill AT, Berry JW, Luo W, Elliott TR, Yoon M . Analyzing longitudinal data with multilevel models: An example with individuals living with lower extremity intra-articular fractures. Rehabil Psychol 2008; 53: 370–386.
Alderman BL, Benham-Deal TB, Jenkins JM . Change in parental influence on children's physical activity over time. J Phys Act Health 2010; 7: 60–67.
Crawford D, Timperio A, Giles-Corti B, Ball K, Hume C, Roberts R et al. Do features of public open spaces vary according to neighbourhood socio-economic status? Health Place 2008; 14: 889–893.
Carver A, Timperio A, Crawford D . Playing it safe: The influence of neighbourhood safety on children's physical activity—A review. Health Place 2008; 14: 217–227.
Timperio AF, Crawford DA, Telford A, Salmon J . Perceptions about the local neighborhood and walking and cycling among children. Prev Med 2004; 38: 39–47.
Edwards N, Hooper P, Trapp GSA, Bull F, Boruff B, Giles-Corti B . Development of a Public Open Space Desktop Auditing Tool (POSDAT): A remote sensing approach. Appl Geogr 2013; 38: 22–30.
Astell-Burt T, Feng X, Kolt GS . Green space is associated with walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in middle-to-older-aged adults: Findings from 203 883 Australians in the 45 and Up Study. Br J Sports Med 2013; 48: 404–406.
Acknowledgements
This paper uses unit record data from Growing Up in Australia, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The study is conducted in partnership between the Department of Social Services (DSS), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings and views reported in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to DSS, AIFS or the ABS. We also acknowledge the ABS for use of the 2006 mesh block data. TS is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. TAB is supported by a Fellowship with the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sanders, T., Feng, X., Fahey, P. et al. Greener neighbourhoods, slimmer children? Evidence from 4423 participants aged 6 to 13 years in the Longitudinal Study of Australian children. Int J Obes 39, 1224–1229 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.69
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.69
This article is cited by
-
The Relationship Between Nature and Immigrants’ Integration, Wellbeing and Physical Activity: A Scoping Review
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health (2023)
-
Association between built environments and weight status: evidence from longitudinal data of 9589 Australian children
International Journal of Obesity (2022)
-
The Differences by Sex and Gender in the Relationship Between Urban Greenness and Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review
Journal of Urban Health (2022)
-
Are environmental area characteristics at birth associated with overweight and obesity in school-aged children? Findings from the SLOPE (Studying Lifecourse Obesity PrEdictors) population-based cohort in the south of England
BMC Medicine (2020)
-
Diet and physical activity as possible mediators of the association between educational attainment and body mass index gain among Australian adults
International Journal of Public Health (2018)