Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down

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University of Texas' Dr. Chandra Bhat apparently gets paid to do some pretty obvious studies. We could be wrong; we're no scientists, socially or otherwise, but we figure some things don't require hours and hours research and thousands of dollars in funding. For instance, Dr. Bhat recently released a study that came to the conclusion that children are more physically active when parents encourage it. Hmmm. Astounding. To be fair, however, the results did not stop there. The research also indicated that children are more physically active when they live in neighborhoods conducive to outdoor activity. Therefore kids living closer to parks or in neighborhoods with more bike lanes generally get out and play more. Guess the whole "go play in traffic" thing never really caught on. Well, not exactly rocket science, but we guess it's helpful to know.

Bhat also found that 32% of children studied use the weekends for their outdoor physical activity. Seems to make sense. We are assuming during the week, if they are not on organized sports teams, after school they just head home, grab some Ding Dongs, fire up the PS2 and the AOL Instant Messenger and sit on their fat asses all evening, while their parents are probably both working or sitting in front of the tv themselves after a tiring day. God bless, America.

Some other interesting numbers, which seem to only open the conversation up to inane stereotype jokes of the most base level, indicate that boys are more active than girls and that Asian children are the least active while Hispanic children are most physically active. Not real sure what any of that means. Bt we like to pass along the knowledge to you. So there ya go.

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By matthewodam in Other on January 19, 2006 12:18 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

pzriddle

I'm surprised at the "duh, they get paid for this?" tone and the assumption that this research promotes suburban lifestyles.

You can't influence public policy on "gee, isn't this obvious" alone. Hard data and sound research are important when you're talking about how public officials direct hundreds of millions of dollars of transportation and park money (nationally and spread over a few years I suspect it's billions) .

Furthermore, health researchers need hard numbers with which to correlate studies on (say) obesity, diabetes, asthma, or any other childhood diseases which are affected by physical activity. Just how much more are kids doing the Ding-Dong/PS2 thing today than in the past? It takes serious research to quantify that.

Finally, since when do these findings promote suburbanization? Actually, to the contrary, I've heard similar research cited to justify policy changes to make inner cities more livable (in support of traffic calming, bike lanes and parks in the cities, not just the burbs) and to make suburbs more urban (in support of denser, less car-focused development even out on the edge of town).

Jae

I played a lot of basketball as a kid. Guess what, I had a basketball hoop. Strange?

Bre

Fret not, Odam - them's good birthin' hips.

odam

good point, M1, i lived in italy and ate like a horse but walked EVERYwhere and still lost 10 pounds. i never go to the playground now, live near downtown and walk a lot of places, including to and fro work, otherwise i know i would be about 10 pounds heavier, and while i am not the sveltest cato n the block, nobody is going to call me fatass. maybe pear butt, but that's just genetics at work - stupid womanly hips

M1EK

Once again, it's not "having places to play outside" which counts, it's "being driven all over the place by Mom and Dad". Suburban kids are fatter because they get rides everywhere (including school); urban kids are in better shape because they WALK MORE.

Doesn't matter how many playgrounds the suburban neighborhood has -- it matters how they get to school.

breaking news

THIS JUST IN: Children are more apt to play Jai Alai if they live in a neighborhood that has many Jai Alai courts.

k8

Interesting... so, kids who have places to play outside will play outside more often? What are the odds!

I wonder what kind of organization hands out grants to run a study in which the conclusion could have been predicted by any Captain Obvious in the country.

M1EK

It ain't just bike lanes - it's living in an area where they get used to walking to stuff. Kids who grow up in New York City aren't as fat as those who get chauffered around Cedar Park.

odam

nice try, nerd. i will never live more than 5 miles from the city-center. then again, i will probably never have kids or own a house, so there's that.

ps. i shoulda pushed you into ceasar chavez while i had the chance