Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Children’s Access to Physical Activity Facilities: Activity Space Analysis

Few Canadian children meet current physical activity recommendations, especially children from households with lower socioeconomic status (SES). Previous work suggests that accessibility to, quality of, and cost of physical activity–promoting facilities influence physical activity levels. Disparities in accessibility to physical activity resources may contribute to neighborhood health and social inequalities. Many studies examine geographic accessibility to health-promoting facilities in residential neighborhoods and ignore individual mobility and other barriers to access such as cost and quality. This study examines SES differences in accessibility to physical activity facilities for schoolchildren as they move throughout the day. It does so by using activity spaces measured with a modified version of a road network buffer and a shortest-path network estimation method. SES-based differences in use and quality of visited physical activity resources are also considered. Results indicate that the high-SES sample has greater accessibility to physical activity facilities and uses them more frequently. Used facilities are of higher quality than those used by children living in low-SES neighborhoods. Cost is identified as a potential barrier to facility access for the low-SES group. To combat neighborhood health inequalities, cities should aim to provide high-quality, affordable, and accessible resources across all neighborhoods.