Teun Remmers

178 | Chapter 10 and personality factors together moderate the relationship between PA enjoyment and PA behavior in children. This is in line with the proposed pathways of the EnRG framework (3). Environmental Determinants of Outside Play Chapters 4 and 5 address the third aim of this thesis: investigating relationships between perceived environment and outside play. These chapters describe two large-scaled studies on environmental determinants of parent-reported outside play of 5-7-year-old children. The study in chapter 4 particularly investigated the influence of parent-perceived physical and social environment on children's outside play. First, linear regression models investigated cross-sectional associations at ages 5 and 7. Second, linear mixed models were performed to evaluate whether the influence of correlates would become weaker or stronger as children age. Results showed social environmental determinants generally had a stronger relationship with outside play than perceived physical environmental determinants, at both five and seven years. In the social environment, habit strength towards parental promotion of outside play, the presence of parental rules regarding outside play, and having physically active siblings were stable correlates of outside play. These findings demonstrated that the social environment was a strong correlate of parent-reported outside play in 5 and 7-year-old children. The study in chapter 5 focused on moderation mechanisms of parenting influences and social capital on the relationship between the physical environment and children's outside play. Measurements of the perceived physical environment were based on the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (4), and consisted of multiple-item constructs such as the accessibility of PA facilities. Self-reported parenting influences were multiple-item constructs describing, for example, parental pressure towards PA and active transport, or parental attitude towards regular PA. Results showed that parent-perceived accessibility to PA facilities, social capital in the neighborhood, and positive parental attitudes towards PA were associated with more parent-reported outside play. In contrast, concern regarding their child's PA and restriction of screen time were associated with fewer minutes of outside play. Although this study only found a limited number of significant interactions, it indicated that the perceived physical environment may have less influence if parents do not perceive responsibility regarding their child's PA levels. This may mean that these parents provide their child with more autonomy to play outside in spaces that they think are appropriate and safe. Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 represent the fourth aim of this thesis: investigating the influence of the objective environment on children's' PA patterns using optimized methodologies, and to examine these patterns in the transition from childhood to adolescence.