Children's independent mobility in Japan: travelling to, returning from, and playing within local parks.

Children's independent mobility (CIM), a parental permission for children to travel and play at a destination without adult supervision, is considered essential for supporting both the physical and psychological well-being of children. Of the various places CIM can be granted, the present study focused on local parks as a destination. The study aimed to understand children's travel to local parks without adult supervision (CIM to park), children's travel returning from local parks without adult supervision (CIM from park) and playing at/within local parks without adult supervision (CIM within park), and factors influencing the parental grant of that CIM. An online survey was completed by 3000 mothers in Japan about their primary school-aged child. Among the children who visited parks (88.7%), approximately half of the children were granted each type of park CIM in total. The results from the logistic regression indicated that girls were less likely than boys to be granted CIM from parks. For all CIMs, if mothers thought that the child was capable of protecting themselves from crime and accidents, the odds of being granted CIM were higher. Additionally, mothers who believed that local residents could protect their children from crime were more likely to permit CIM of all types. This suggests that the presence of local residents may facilitate CIM associated with parks, especially for children whose mothers do not consider them yet capable of self-protection.