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Table 1 Characteristics of the study population a

From: Outdoor play among children in relation to neighborhood characteristics: a cross-sectional neighborhood observation study

 

Age 4–6 years b

Age 7–9 years

Age 10–12 years b

Total (n = 3,651)

 

Boys (n = 637)

Girls (n = 611)

Boys (n = 692)

Girls (n = 665)

Boys (n = 520)

Girls (n = 526)

 

Age (years)

5.0 (0.8)

5.0 (0.8)

8.0 (0.8)

8.0 (0.8)

10.7 (0.7)

10.7 (0.7)

7.8 (2.4)

BMI c (kg/m2)

15.4 (2.0)

15.2 (2.2)

16.3 (2.7)

16.4 (2.7)

17.5 (3.2)

17.4 (2.8)

16.3 (2.7)

Overweight d (%)

6.5

10.2

11.2

12.9

10.6

11.7

10.5

Obesity d (%)

3.4

3.8

3.1

4.3

2.7

1.3

3.2

Parental education level (%)

       

- Low e

25.3

26.4

29.5

28.1

35.0

35.6

29.6

- Intermediate f

36.6

40.6

36.4

37.4

33.3

31.9

36.2

- High g

38.1

33.1

34.1

34.4

31.7

32.5

34.1

Net household income (Euros per month)

2,754 (1,230)

2,818 (1,277)

2,814 (1,303)

2,761 (1,326)

2,720 (1,345)

2,596 (1,289)

2,751 (1,295)

Outdoor play (minutes per week)

408 (266)

378 (256)

455 (289)*

398 (272)*

444 (284)*

381 (285)*

411 (277)

  1. a Values are mean (SD), unless otherwise specified.
  2. b In The Netherlands, children aged 4–12 years are educated at the same primary school. In the current study sample, two children in the lowest age groups were aged 3 years and 8 children in the highest age groups were aged 13 years. These children were included in the lowest (4–6 years) and highest (10–12 years) age groups, respectively.
  3. c Based on parental self report of height and weight of their child.
  4. d Based on age and gender specific cut off points as provided by Cole et al. [20].
  5. e No education, primary education, lower general secondary education or lower vocational education.
  6. f Higher general secondary education, pre-university education or intermediate vocational education.
  7. g Higher vocational education or university.
  8. * Boldface indicates significant differences between boys and girls within each age group (p < 0.05).