The Effects Of Home And Community Physical Activity Environment On Cognitive Function In Urban Preschooler

Purposes: Environmental factors such as family and community play an important role during preschool,a critical period in the development of children’s cognitive functions.The analysis of family and community physical activity environmental factors that affect the cognitive function development of preschool children has a guiding role in promoting the formulation of cognitive function development strategies.Method: From October to November 2020,preschool children aged 4-6 years from Oriental Cambridge Kindergarten in Jinan City are selected as the survey subjects.The preschoolers were tested for body shape and assessed for their level of cognitive function development,and physical activity environment factors were collected via questionnaires,which mainly included family physical activity environment and community physical activity environment.The height and weight of preschool children were measured using mechanical height and sitting height meters and electronic weight scales.The cognitive functions of the preschool children were tested using the Chinese Wechsler Intelligence Scale,which includes both verbal and manipulative functions.The questionnaire also investigated the subjects’ physical activity environment at home,mainly in three aspects: opportunities for physical activity at home,environment for electronic screen use at home,and level of physical activity outdoors.The Neighbourhood Environment Walking Activity Scale(NEWS-A)was used to investigate the community neighbourhood environment of preschool children,including community service accessibility,community street environment,walking and cycling paths,community beautification,traffic hazards and community safety.Data were analysed using SPSS software,T-test or ANOVA for the mean of the variables of interest.Biased correlations were used to analyse the correlation between each element of the home and community physical activity environment and the cognitive functioning of preschool children.CHAID decision tree models were used to analyse the key factors affecting cognitive functioning,with a significant difference at p < 0.05.Results: A total of 218 preschool children were tested.The subjects were 4.61 ±0.73 year-old and the total cognitive function score was 107.21 ± 12.35,of which the verbal function score was 22.33 ± 4.08 and the operational function score was 22.24 ±5.00.There were statistical differences in preschoolers’ verbal function scores,operational function scores and total cognitive function scores by age(p<0.05).Skewed correlations were found via partial correlation analysis,with total cognitive function scores,verbal function scores and operational function scores positively correlated with community service availability(p<0.05),and negatively correlated with primary guardians’ use of electronic screen devices at bedtime and preschoolers’ weekend use of electronic screen devices.The decision tree showed that the time spent on electronic screen devices on weekends was the root node variable for verbal functioning scores,operational functioning scores and total cognitive functioning scores,and was the most critical predictor of cognitive functioning in preschool children.The primary guardian’s at bedtime electronic screen device use habits and community service availability were the leaf node variables for the verbal function score,operational function score,and total cognitive function score.Conclusion: Among many factors of family and community physical activity environment,the factors that influence preschoolers’ cognitive development are,in order of importance,preschoolers’ weekend electronic screen time,availability of community services,bedtime electronic screen habits of primary caregivers,community street environment,weekend physical activity time outdoors,and indoor space in the home.The most critical factor affecting cognitive functioning is the amount of time spent on electronic screen devices on weekends.