Play is one of the main ways in which children engage in physical activity outdoors. Yet, in many developed countries children do not engage in sufficient physical activity (e.g., ).įindings from systematic reviews consistently demonstrate the time children spend outdoors correlates positively with their physical activity. The more physical activity, the greater the health benefits.

Regular physical activity is associated with improved health status, primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases, reduced risk of premature death, improved cognitive functioning, academic achievement, and lower depression. To this end, the synthesis reported in this study provides a framework for guiding future research. The theoretical sophistication of research in this area could be improved. From a methods perspective, the reviewed studies used a range of data collection techniques, but methodological details were often inadequately reported.

Interventions should focus on community-level solutions that include children’s perspectives. These safety concerns are moderated by child-level factors (age, competence, gender) and broader social issues. Parents’ perceived safety concerns are the primary barrier to children’s active free play. This comprehensive meta-study helps establish a knowledge base for children’s independent active free play research by synthesizing a previously fragmented set of studies.

An ecological model depicting these factors, and the relationships therein, was created. Identified determinants of independent active free play were child characteristics (age, competence, and gender), parental restrictions (safety concerns and surveillance), neighborhood and physical environment (fewer children to play with, differences in preferences for play spaces between parents and children, accessibility and proximity, and maintenance), societal changes (reduced sense of community, good parenting ideal, changing roles of parents, privatization of playtime and play spaces), and policy issues (need to give children voice). Methodįollowing systematic electronic and manual searches and application of inclusion/exclusion criteria, 46 studies were retained and subjected to meta-method, meta-theory, and meta-data analyses, followed by a final meta-synthesis. To produce a meta-study by completing a systematic review of qualitative research examining determinants of independent active free play in children.

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