Longitudinal effects of dog ownership, dog acquisition, and dog loss on children's movement behaviours: findings from the PLAYCE cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Regular physical activity is important for children's physical and mental health, yet many children do not achieve recommended amounts of physical activity. Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity in children, however, there have been no longitudinal studies examining this relationship. This study used data from the Play Spaces and Environments for Children's Physical Activity (PLAYCE) cohort study to examine the longitudinal effects of dog ownership status on children's movement behaviours.

Methods

Change in dog ownership from preschool (wave 1, age 2-5) to fulltime school (wave 2, age 5-7) was used as a natural experiment with four distinct dog ownership groups: continuing non-dog owners (n = 307), continuing dog owners (n = 204), do

SUBMITTER: Adams EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10826268 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature