Income and Racial Disparities in Access to Public Parks and Private Recreation Facilities
Background
Disparities in health outcomes and health behaviors may be partially explained by neighborhood environments that are poor in resources that could support healthy behaviors. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that low-income and high-minority neighborhoods have less access to public parks, open space, and private recreation facilities.
Methods
From 2004 to 2005, an inventory of 351 private recreation facilities and 465 public parks was conducted in 833 Census block groups in Maryland. In 2-way ANCOVAs, numbers of private facilities and public parks, as well as maximum park size, were studied in relation to categories of median income and percent non-white population in the block groups.
Results
For the number of private recreation facilities, there was no significant effect of income or percent minority. For number and size of parks, the interaction between income and percent minority was significant. Mixed-race neighborhoods had the highest number of parks, regardless of income. Low- and middle-income groups living in mostly-white block groups and high-income groups living in mostly-minority block groups had the lowest access to public parks.
Conclusions
The expected deprivation of recreation facilities in low-income and high-minority neighborhoods was not found. There are exceptions to the inequalities found nationally, so the policies or practices associated with a fairer distribution of recreation resources in some local areas need to be better understood.
aGraduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California
bDepartment of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California
cSchool of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
dChildren’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
eLawrence Frank and Company, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: James F. Sallis, PhD, San Diego State University, 3900 Fifth Avenue, Suite 310, San Diego CA 92103.
ABSTRACT