Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan Research Paper Neighborhood outdoor play of White and Non-White Hispanic children: Cultural differences and environmental disparities Jeongjae Yoon a,b, ⁎ , Chanam Lee a a Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3137, United States b Urban Research Division, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), Sejong 30147, Republic of Korea ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Outdoor play Children Ethnic difference Environmental disparity ABSTRACT A continued decrease in outdoor play time among children has contributed to the decline in their overall physical activity levels. Creating safe and supportive neighborhood environments for outdoor play can help promote physical activity especially among children lacking private play areas. Further, children from different cultural backgrounds may be influenced by different factors when deciding if or where to play. This paper examines differences in outdoor play patterns and locations, and their correlates between Hispanic and non- Hispanic White children. A total of 3449 elementary school students (69.3% Hispanic) were recruited in 2010 from 20 schools in the AustinIndependentSchoolDistrict,Texas.Usingthedatacollectedfromtheirparentalsurvey,twomultivariable linear regression models were estimated to identify correlates of outdoor play time for each ethnic group. Hispanic children used fewer types of places to play outdoors but for more minutes/weekday. A high re- sidential density appeared as a facilitator among White children, while a connected street pattern (more in- tersections/crossings) functioned as a barrier among Hispanic children. Neighborhood safety, destinations, and land uses were important in both ethnic groups, but differences were found in the specific associations. Findings suggest that intervention strategies to promote outdoor play should respond to the specific needs, preferences, and external constraints of children from different cultural backgrounds. The strategies should also be tailored to provide safer places for Hispanic children. This proposes public participation from diverse ethnic groups in processes of planning and infrastructure decision-making to reflect different preferences and achieve equitable access to health-supportive resources. 1. Introduction Children benefit from outdoor activity, especially a type called “play.” First, outdoor play is an important and attractive form of phy- sical activity among children (Carver, Timperio, & Crawford, 2008). Time spent outdoors by children is generally and substantially ac- counted to be linked to total levels of physical activity in childhood (Sallis et al., 1993). A body of research in epidemiology has demon- strated that a decline in the time engaged in physical activity results in an increased risk of obesity, other adiposity-related diseases (i.e. dia- betes and cardiovascular diseases), low bone density, and low physical fitness among children (Bailey & Martin, 1994; Koplan, Liverman, & Kraak, 2005). Second, outdoor play also provides opportunities to mingle and socialize with other children in neighborhoods (Hillman, 2006). Children learn how to interact with their environments through play. Children who get positive social and emotional benefits from physical activity tend to have higher self-esteem, lower anxiety, and lower stress (Calfas & Taylor, 1994). Third, many studies have shown that play and physical activity contribute to cognitive development (Bergen, 2002; Bjorklund & Brown, 1998) and increased achievement test scores (McCreary et al., 2012). Children may also have opportu- nities to interact with nature through outdoor play activities in man- made areas (e.g. communal gardens, urban parks) and less managed spaces (e.g. forests, mountain areas). Such interaction with nature provides mental health benefits including prevention of attention def- icit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the alleviation of teenage an- xiety and depression (Korpela & Hartig, 1996; Taylor, Kuo, & Sullivan, 2001). However, many children these days do not engage in sufficient outdoor play (Hofferth, 2009). The decrease in outdoor play time (e.g. decreasefrom39weeklyminutesin1997to18minin2003among9to 12-year-old American children) may lead to a decline in opportunities https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.01.010 Received 8 February 2018; Received in revised form 17 January 2019; Accepted 25 January 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Urban Research Division, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), Sejong 30147, Republic of Korea. E-mail addresses: jjyoon@krihs.re.kr (J. Yoon), chanam@tamu.edu (C. Lee). Landscape and Urban Planning 187 (2019) 11–22 0169-2046/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T