Relationship between Recreational Resources in the School Neighborhood and Changes in Fitness in New York City Public School Students

Physical fitness in children has many beneficial effects, including the maintenance of a healthy weight. The built environment may influence youths’ physical fitness by encouraging physical activity. This paper assessed whether higher density of parks, playgrounds, and sports facilities around a school is related to improvements in fitness in middle school boys and girls. Fitness scores and other student covariates collected as part of NYC FITNESSGRAM between the 2006–2007 and 2010–2011 school years were linked with school neighborhood data on characteristics of the built environment for NYC public school students in grades 6–8. Data were analyzed in 2015. Medium, but not high, density of recreational resources in the area surrounding a school was associated with greater annual improvements in fitness for both boys and girls. This association appeared to be driven mainly by the presence of parks. Findings for sports facilities and playgrounds were inconsistent. Overall, few associations were observed between recreational resources near a school and changes in student fitness. Future studies of school influences on student fitness should consider the influence of school resources and the home neighborhood.