Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective To investigate the outdoor activity status of 4-5-year-old preschool children in five kindergartens in urban areas of Wuhan and the impact of low-level outdoor activities on childrens psychological behavior. Methods A 986 4-5-year-old children from five kindergartens in Hanyang District of Wuhan were selected as the research objects. The childrens parents were evaluated for childrens behavioral problems using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the childrens general situation and outdoor activity status were investigated. According to the outdoor activity time, all children were divided into low-level and normal outdoor activity groups. Results A total of 456 children (46.2%) met the criteria for the low-level outdoor activity group, and the proportion of girls in the low-level outdoor activity group was higher than that of boys. Regardless of gender, the CBCL total score and the social withdrawal and depression factors in the low-level outdoor activity group were higher than those in the normal group (P <0.05). In addition, by setting the CBCL total score threshold (≥65), the binary logistic regression model showed that children with low-level outdoor activity were more likely to have abnormal psychological behavior odds ratio (OR) = 1.403, p <0.05. Conclusion Low-level outdoor activities are related to childrens social withdrawal and depression, and are more likely to cause abnormal psychological behavior in children, which should be taken seriously by families and educators.

Preschool children; Outdoor activities; Behavioral problems