Socioeconomic inequality in Scottish children's exposure to and use of natural space and private gardens, measured by GPS

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: (i) determine, by distance from home, the proportion of time children spent in natural space (NS), private gardens (PG) and natural space/private garden (NS/PG); (ii) calculate availability of these environments surrounding homes, and (iii) explore variation in availability and use by socio-economic status (SES). Detailed mobility data for 10/11-year-old children (n = 667) were obtained. Children wore GPS devices and locations were spatially joined to UK national mapping data (Ordnance Survey) to identify if each one was within NS, PG or NS/PG. Euclidean distance between GPS points and home was measured and discretised into 100 m bands (100 m to 800 m). Children spent 15% of their total outdoor, non-school wear time in NS, but 41% in NS/PG. Both time spent in NS & NS/PG and its distance from home varied by SES. Children living in the most deprived areas spent 17% of their total wear time in NS/PG within 100 m from home, and 4.4% in NS/PG over 800 m from home. In contrast, children from the least deprived areas spent 19% of wear time in NS/PG less than 100 m from home and 10.7% in NS/PG over 800 m from home. An increase in the availability of NS and NS/PG around the home was weakly associated with increased use. NS and PG provide a key location that children spend their outdoor time, particularly in areas close to home for those from more deprived areas. Children from the least deprived areas have greater exposure to NS, most of which occurs away from home.