Content uploaded by Maria Giuseppina Pacilli
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Maria Giuseppina Pacilli on Aug 28, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
This article was downloaded by: [87.11.233.210]
On: 11 October 2012, At: 13:44
Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Children's Geographies
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cchg20
On children's independent mobility:
the interplay of demographic,
environmental, and psychosocial
factors
Francesca Romana Alparone
a
& Maria Giuseppina Pacilli
b
a
Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University of Chieti-
Pescara, Italy
b
Department Istituzioni e Società, University of Perugia, Italy
Version of record first published: 22 Feb 2012.
To cite this article: Francesca Romana Alparone & Maria Giuseppina Pacilli (2012): On children's
independent mobility: the interplay of demographic, environmental, and psychosocial factors,
Children's Geographies, 10:1, 109-122
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.638173
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-
conditions
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation
that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any
instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary
sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings,
demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or
indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
On children’s independent mobility:
the interplay of demographic,
environmental, and psychosocial
factors
Francesca Romana Alparone
a
∗
and Maria Giuseppina Pacilli
b
a
Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy;
b
Department
Istituzioni e Societa
`
, University of Perugia, Italy
In the past 50 years, a marked reduction has occurred in European and North American children’s freedom of
movement and outdoor play. Using a structural equation model, the present study investigates the interaction
between personal, environmental, and psychosocial factors that affect children’s independent mobility. The
study involved 313 mothers of 8– 10-year-old Italian children. The results supported the hypothesized model:
the age of the child, the maternal perception of social danger, and positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy
were the most influential variables on children’s independent mobility, measured as an index. Further, the
maternal perceptions mediated the influence of the other demographic, psychosocial, and environmental
variables on independent mobility.
Keywords: children’s outdoor mobility; children’s independent mobility; social danger perception;
potentiality of outdoor autonomy; structural equation model
Introduction
In recent decades the deterioration of children’s relationship with urban space has come under
the scrutiny of researchers, policymakers, and politicians. Some of the environmental, social,
and cultural transformations that have taken place in industrialized countries over the last few
decades might account for this phenomenon. Among these changes, it is worth mentioning
the way urban planners have conceptualized the urban space, the increase in traffic, the
steady impoverishment of neighborhood networks, and increasing rates of crime (Wikstro
¨
m
and Dolme
´
n 2001) which jointly contributed to develop stronger feelings of insecurity. As a
result, currently, adults often perceive the city as a dangerous place and have thus significantly
increased their protective behavior towards their children, sometimes even going so far as to
overprotect them. These fearful attitudes have led parents to strongly limit how much they let
their children go and play freely outdoors (Hillman et al. 1973, 1991) as well as how much
they consider the home as the safest and comfortable place for children (Forni 2002).
The data available that illustrate this situation justify the concern expressed by experts. For
example, in Italy in 1997 only 14– 31% of children aged 8–11 went to school on their own
Children’s Geographies
Vol. 10, No. 1, February 2012, 109–122
∗
Corresponding author. Email: f.alparone@unich.it
ISSN 1473-3285 print/ISSN 1473-3277 online
# 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.638173
http://www.tandfonline.com
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
or with children the same age (Giuliani et al. 1997) and equally few were allowed to play out-
doors, either in public parks close to home or in their apartment building courtyards, without
constant adult supervision (18–32%; Prezza et al. 2000). In a wide-ranging study on six
small and medium-sized Italian cities (Tonucci et al. 2002), it was discovered that about 67%
of primary school children (6–11 years of age) were accompanied to school every day by
car. The results of more recent studies corroborate this negative trend in Italian children’s
daily habits. For example, Prezza et al. (2010) found that only 11.7% of 382 children (8–11
years of age) of three primary schools in Rome ever went to school unaccompanied by an
adult. Moreover, a review by Prezza (2007) confirmed that many children between the ages
of 8 and 11 never played outdoors without adults to keep a close eye on them (between 34
and 65%), but, even more worryingly, a large number (between 23 and 46%) never played out-
doors even under adult supervision. Moreover, it is noteworthy that nowadays the teachers of
most Italian primary schools cannot let children free at the end of the school unless an adult
is waiting for them. What is more, parents who permit their children to return from school
alone must sign an authorization that frees the school of every kind of responsibility. This pro-
cedure thus establishes the rightness of the social norm by which in Italy good parents are
expected to accompany their children to school and – implicitly – to overprotect them.
Similar studies carried out in other industrialized countries – for example, in the UK (O’Brien
et al. 2000), Finland (Kytta
¨
2004), Sweden (Johansson 2006), Australia (Timpero et al. 2004),
and New Zealand (Tranter and Pawson 2001) – confirmed that children have less and less
freedom of movement. The serious health-related consequences of the lack of independent
outdoor mobility on children’s development and wellbeing have been demonstrated by many
studies. Negative effects have been found on the development of spatial, motor, and analytical
skills (Rissotto and Giuliani 2006), on the acquisition of social competence (Hu
¨
ttenmoser 1995,
Prezza et al. 2001), on weight control (Mackett 2004) and on overall physical health due to the
related decrease in exercise (Fox 2004, Cooper et al. 2005, Salmon et al. 2005). Additionally, a
recent study demonstrated that adolescents who felt lonelier and who were more fearful about
going out at night and had weaker ties to their community had been less autonomous during
early childhood (Prezza and Pacilli 2007).
Although research has indicated various factors connected to the independent mobility of chil-
dren, to the best of our knowledge, the relative strength of the relations as well as the interaction
among these factors has been rarely analyzed. The aim of the present study, therefore, was two-
fold: firstly we were interested in reviewing the research literature which has hitherto examined
the predictors of children’s independent mobility and secondly we wanted to test empirically the
interplay of socio-demographic, environmental, and psychosocial factors in predicting chil-
dren’s autonomous mobility.
Factors connected with children’s independent mobility
As mentioned earlier, a wide range of factors may facilitate or hamper children’s independent
mobility. For simplicity, we will distinguish these factors in three main areas of investigation
which are strongly related to each other.
Socio-demographic factors
The child’s gender, age, and degree of maturity have been frequently studied in relation to
independent mobility. Several findings in this area show that independent mobility increases
with age (Blakely 1994, Heurlin-Norinder 1996, Giuliani et al. 1997, Sissons Joshi et al.
1997, Timpero et al. 2004, Fyhri and Hjorthol 2009), but changes in relation to gender, so
that boys appear to be granted more autonomy than their female peers are (Hillman et al.
110 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
1991, Kytta
¨
1995, Heurlin-Norinder 1996, Hart 1997, O’Brien et al. 2000, Tranter and Pawson
2001, Alparone et al. 2003, Johanshon, 2006, Brown et al. 2008, Fyhri and Hjorthol 2009), par-
ticularly in outdoor activities (Tonucci et al. 2002). However, it appears that parents also take
age into account when evaluating how capable their children are of assessing and reacting to
environmental risks (Alparone et al. 2003, Johansson 2003). An additional consideration in a
parent’s assessment is whether or not there are older brothers or sisters. In fact, children who
are not first-borns or only children gain independence slightly earlier (Giuliani et al. 1997,
Valentine 1997, Prezza et al. 2000, Prezza 2007), because they can partly benefit from informal
supervision by their older siblings (van der Speck and Noyon, 1997).
Environmental factors
Another area of research has analyzed the role played by the various characteristics of the phys-
ical environments where children live. The exponential increase in city traffic and pollution is
one of the main factors that researchers (Bjo
¨
rklid 1995; Bonanomi 1994; Fyhri and Hjorthol
2009; Heurlin-Norinder 1996; Hillman 1997; Johanshon, 2006; Noschis 1994; van der Spek
and Noyon 1997) have found to be responsible for changes in children’s freedom of outdoor
movement and play (for a review, see also Prezza 2007). Traffic danger to children is linked
to traffic intensity, to types of roads (e.g. fast roads, dangerous intersections), and to disregard
for traffic laws (e.g. parking on sidewalks, no respect for traffic lights).
There are, however, physical characteristics of the environment that promote children’s
outdoor autonomy, such as smaller urban contexts (van der Spek and Noyon 1997), the presence
of usable play areas close to home (Gaster 1991), and a lower degree of urbanization (Kytta
¨
1995, 2002). For instance, compared to cities, rural towns offer contexts and characteristics
which children benefit from during socialization and creative play (water, hiding places,
things to climb; Kytta
¨
1995, 2002, Mikkelsen and Christensen 2009). Another factor that posi-
tively influences parents’ evaluations of the time children spend outdoors is the presence of parks
and gardens in the area where they live. In fact, these green areas allow children to engage in a
wide range of activities and to come into contact with a variety of materials and organisms
(Moore 1986), which promotes creative play and social interaction. In a previous study,
Prezza et al. (2005) found that the presence of green areas mediated the relation between the
size of context and the mother’s perception of the positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy
for children. Further, studies indicate that both mothers and childhood professionals consider
green areas one of the most fundamental characteristics of a child-friendly environment, and
children themselves say that they enjoy natural landscapes (Chawla 1992, Haikkola et al. 2007).
Psychosocial factors
Parents’ perceptions of their environment strongly shape their parenting practices. The parents’
decision to restrict or allow their children’s autonomy of movement does not depend solely on
their evaluation of the child’s ability and of the environmental limits/opportunities. This
decision often depends on their own personal fears and subjective perception of the dangers
that children may encounter outdoors without adult supervision (Fyhri and Hjorthol 2009).
Risk of road injury is one of parents’ greatest concerns (Alparone et al. 2003), and, in fact,
the degree of children’s independent mobility diminishes when parents’ anxiety about traffic
increases (Fyhri and Hjorthol 2009).
However, qualitative studies have shown that the most recurring parental worries, after traffic
danger, regard the social environment and, more specifically, the possibility that their children
will encounter ill-intentioned adults, witness or be the victims of petty crime, or come into
Children’s Geographies 111
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
contact with drugs (Blakely 1994, Valentine and McKendrick 1997, O’Brien et al. 2000, Alpar-
one et al. 2003, Cicognani 2003, Timpero et al. 2004, Pinkster and Fortuijn 2009).
Social fears, and above all the fear of crime, have increased considerably in the last few
decades, particularly in industrialized societies. It results strongly linked to the size of the
urban context (Kuo et al. 1998, Wikstro
¨
m and Dolme
´
n 2001) as well as to other characteristics,
such as high heterogeneity, high residential density and low social integration. Research on this
topic indicates that the fear of crime is highly and inversely correlated with an individual’s
degree of integration in the local social network and with the degree and quality of neighborhood
relations (Farrall et al. 2000, Ross and Jang 2000, Gibson et al. 2002, Amerio and Roccato
2005). Conversely, less fear of crime is associated with a stronger sense of community (Santi-
nello et al. 1998, Chipuer 2001) and neighborhood attachment (Riger et al. 1981, Brown et al.
2003). Wikstro
¨
m and Dolme
´
n (2001) further highlighted the protective function of the psycho-
social characteristics of urban context against social insecurity and fear of crime, demonstrating
that social integration and informal social control are capable to mediate the effect of the level of
urbanization on fear of crime. Thus, it is reasonable to believe that the psychological link to the
community as well as the level of social integration in one’s own neighborhood play a buffer
effect on parental social insecurity, indirectly encouraging a child’s freedom of movement.
Although parents might represent an important barrier to children’s mobility, they may also be
important facilitators of children’s mobility (Mikkelsen and Christensen 2009). Parents often
acknowledge that the urban environment provides their children with opportunities for cogni-
tive, social, and physical development (Alparone et al. 2003) and try to overcome their fears
in order to enable and support the mobility of their children. Recent findings have proven that
a positive parental judgment regarding the potentiality of the environment can counterbalance
a negative perception of the neighborhood, helping parents to see their children’s autonomy
as a positive growth agent (Prezza et al. 2005).
Overview of the study
The present study extends a previous research carried out by Prezza et al. (2005) whose scope
was to construct and validate two scales aimed to detect important parent’s perceptions con-
nected to the autonomous mobility of children: Social Danger Perception Scale and Perception
of Positive Potentiality of Outdoor Autonomy for Children Scale. That study found that the two
constructs (perception of social danger and perception of positive potentiality of outdoor auton-
omy) were strongly and negatively associated with each other. It also presented interesting and
different relations with other variables regarding the mothers and the environment. For example,
mothers’ perception of social danger was found to increase linearly with the size of the urban
context and with their own personal fear of going out unaccompanied in the evening.
However, mothers’ perception of social danger was inversely associated to sense of community
and neighborhood relations, highlighting the protective effect of social integration over feelings
of not being safe. Moreover, sense of community and neighborhood relations positively influ-
enced the parental perception of the positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy for children.
Unfortunately, this previous study did not consider children’s independent mobility. Our inten-
tion was therefore to clarify whether and how all the variables investigated influence that
mobility.
Aim and hypotheses
The aim of the present study was to investigate the independent as well as interactive effects on
children’s independent mobility of (a) the mother’s perceptions of social danger and of the
112 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
positive potentiality of children’s autonomy, (b) the mother’s psychosocial characteristics, (c)
the child’s demographic characteristics, and (d) the characteristics of the environment.
It was assumed that a child’s independent mobility was primarily dependent on two important
maternal evaluations: (1) the level of social danger in the environment where the child lived and
(2) the potential of outdoor autonomy to promote the child’s physical, psychological and social
development. We predicted that a more acute perception of social danger would lower mothers’
perception of the positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy, inducing in turn a reduction in the
child’s independent mobility. Instead, a mothers’ positive evaluation of potentiality of outdoor
autonomy would increase independent mobility in spite of their social fears (or at least counter-
balancing them). With respect to the demographic characteristics of children, it was predicted
that being older and/or having older siblings would influence the independent mobility regard-
less of other environmental and psychosocial variables, whereas the child’s gender would influ-
ence the mobility through the mediation of maternal perception of social danger.
Because the literature indicates that neighborhood relations and sense of community are often
related to the characteristics of the environment in which people live, we predicted an interaction
between the environmental features of the area where children live – namely, the size of urban
context and the presence of green areas – and these psychosocial characteristics of mothers.
Specifically, we predicted that living in a smaller urban context would favor the mothers’ neigh-
borhood relations and sense of community; in turn, stronger neighborhood relations and a greater
sense of community would encourage the perception of informal social control leading mothers
to evaluating the environment as less dangerous for their children. Moreover, we expected that
the presence of green areas (not only specifically parks or playgrounds) would be inversely pro-
portional to the size of context and would have, in turn, a positive effect on the mothers’ percep-
tion of positive potentiality of their child’s autonomy of movement. Indeed, we predicted that the
influence of child’s gender as well as of the environmental and psychosocial variables on the
children’s independent mobility would be mediated by maternal perceptions of social danger
and of the potentiality of outdoor autonomy.
Method
Areas of investigation
It has been shown that parents in various European countries are more willing to let their children
go out unaccompanied if they live in small towns rather than in the big cities (O’Brien et al.
2000, Alparone et al. 2003). We decided, therefore, that small contexts would be more suitable
to study children’s autonomy and its correlates since these contexts are likely to present more
variability of this phenomenon. The present study was carried out in five urban areas in
central and southern Italy chosen on the basis of convenience: two small coastal cities of
approximately 35,000 inhabitants (Nettuno and Vasto) and three small towns of between 4,00
and 7000 inhabitants (Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, Grifalco and Serra S. Bruno).
Sampling procedure and participants
Participants were contacted through their children’s primary schools. After being granted per-
mission by the school authorities, we asked several third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers for
their collaboration. Teachers invited all the pupils’ mothers to take part in the research study,
stressing that participation was voluntary and that the data would be analyzed only in an aggre-
gate form. About 81% of the mothers took part in the study and an undergraduate psychology
student administered the questionnaires to small groups of 10 – 15 mothers in rooms made avail-
able by the school.
Children’s Geographies 113
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
A total of 313 mothers (Mean age ¼ 37.50; SD ¼ 4.56) with at least one child aged 8–10,
took part in the study. Of the 313 mothers, 45 were from Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, 45 from
Serra San Bruno, 45 from Girifalco, 76 from Nettuno, and 102 from Vasto. All the mothers
have lived in their area of investigation for at least one year, and the average length of residence
was 11.9 years. With respect to their education level, 4% only completed primary school studies,
23% only completed their secondary school studies, 49% had a high school diploma and 10%
were university graduates. Almost 49% of the mothers worked and, of the whole sample,
17% had only one child, 56.5% had two children, and 26.6% had three or more children. At
the time of the interview, 15.7% of the target children were 8 years old, 35.5% were 9 years
old, and 48.9% were 10 years old. Forty-seven percent of the target children were only or
first-born children and 51.4% were girls.
Measures
We administered a questionnaire comprised of the following different areas.
. Children’s independent mobility: Our definition of independent mobility corresponds to van
der Speck and Noyon’s (1997, p. 103) freedom of movement and is interpreted ‘as children
being able to play outdoors, go to school, visit friends, go to clubs or associations, and go
shopping all by themselves’. The method adopted was similar to that used by Prezza et al.
(2001) both for the questions and for the procedure used for the calculation of the total
score for independent mobility (alpha ¼ .66; see Appendix).
. Maternal perception of social danger: To assess this variable, the Social Danger Perception
Scale (Prezza et al. 2005) was used, which consists of seven items (alpha ¼ .72) on a 4-point
Likert scale (from 1 ¼ unlikely to 4 ¼ very likely) assessing parents’ perception of the social
dangers in their area of residence considered as problematic for children’s freedom of move-
ment (e.g. drugs, robberies, and purse snatchings, ill-intentioned adults, people who dress or
behave strangely, potentially frightening things).
. Maternal perception of the positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy: To assess this variable
the Perception of the Positive Potentiality of Outdoor Autonomy for Children Scale (Prezza
et al. 2005) was used, which consists of five items (alpha ¼ .74) on a 4-point Likert scale
(from 1 ¼ unlikely to 4 ¼ very likely) describing the positive potentiality for children’s
growth linked to the experience of independent mobility (e.g. becoming more responsible,
learning to cope by him/herself, making new friends and meeting and/or playing with
other children).
. Neighborhood relations: The Neighborhood Relations Scale (Italian version by Prezza and
Pacilli 2002) was used to assess this variable. This consists of seven items measuring the
quality and quantity of neighborhood relations on a 5-point Likert scale. Four items were
taken from Buckner’s (1988) scale
1
(from 1 ¼ never; to 5 ¼ all days), while the other
three were formulated as follows: ‘How many of your neighbors would you ask without
qualms to lend you small things?’ (from 1 ¼ nobody to 5 ¼ everybody); ‘How many of
your neighbors do you consider as friends?’ (from 1 ¼ nobody,to5¼ everybody); ‘I
spend some time with my neighbors and we do things together’ (from 1 ¼ never to 5¼
very often) (alpha ¼ .84).
. Sense of community. To assess this variable, The Italian Sense of Community Scale (Prezza
et al. 1999) was adopted, i.e. an Italian version derived from Davidson and Cotter’s (1986)
Sense of Community Scale, made up of 18 items on a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 ¼ strongly
agree to 5 ¼ strongly disagree) (alpha ¼ .77).
. The presence of public parks in the area around the home: Two items were used:
‘In the area where you live public parks are’ (1 ¼ non-existent,2¼ few,3¼ sufficient,
114 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
4 ¼ many) and ‘Near your home it is possible to be in contact with nature’ (from 1 ¼ com-
pletely false to 4 ¼ completely true). The responses to the two questions were strongly
correlated (r ¼ .56, p , .01) and the variable presence of green areas (from now on) was
created from their mean.
. The child’s age and gender (0 ¼ boy; 1 ¼ girl);
. The child’s position within the family (birth order from now on; 0 ¼ eldest or only child;1
¼ second/third or fourth child);
. The size of the context in which participants lived (1 ≤ 10,000 inhabitants, 2 ¼ 30,000/
40,000 inhabitants).
Results
To test our model of multivariate relations, a structural equations model was implemented (we
used at this aim Bentler’s (1995) EQS6 software for Windows). The significance of the par-
ameters was estimated by fixing error probability at .05. Structural equations models present
two main parts: a measurement model and a structural model. The former regards the relation-
ship of the measures with the correspondent theoretical constructs while the latter pertains the
causal or correlational links between the theoretical variables. For the construction of the
measurement model, the single indicator item procedure was used (MacCallum and Austin
2000). Five indexes were used to test the goodness of the model: the Chi square, the Goodness
of Fit Index (GFI), the Bentler – Bonett Non Normed Fit Index (NNFI), the Comparative Fit
Index (CFI), and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Model fit is typically
indicated when GFI, NNFI, and CFI are above 0.90. For RMSEA, values around 0.08 indicate an
acceptable fit, while values equal to or lower than 0.05 indicate a good fit (Bentler and Bonett
1980).
Our model displayed excellent indexes of fit (
x
2
(24)
¼ 35.17, GFI ¼ 0.98, NNFI ¼ 0.92, CFI
¼ 0.95, RMSEA ¼ 0.04). Furthermore, all the path regression coefficients reached statistical
significance (p , .05) except for two: the path from Size of context to green spaces and the
path from Neighborhood relations to Perception of Social Danger (see Figure 1). In our
model, therefore, Neighborhood Relations did not directly influence the Perception of Social
Danger but they did so indirectly through the mediation of Sense of Community. Finally, con-
trary to our hypothesis, Size of context positively influenced Sense of Community. Overall, the
model we hypothesized was adequate and satisfactory.
Discussion
The proposed structural equation model explained a satisfying percentage of the variance (37%)
of independent mobility and allowed for a coherent examination of a wide set of variables that
research suggests is involved in children’s independent mobility. In addition, our results con-
firmed the validity and usefulness of two measurement scales – Perception of Social Danger
Scale and Perception of Positive Potentiality of Outdoor Autonomy for Children Scale
(Prezza et al. 2005)
2 2
for studies on this topic. These two constructs proved to be strongly
related to children’s independent mobility, and to be significant mediators of the influence of
gender of the child, size of context, presence of green areas as well as of sense of community
and social relationships of mothers in their neighborhood.
Examining the strongest predictors of children’s independent mobility in the model, our
hypothesis about the importance of maternal perception of social danger in the environment
was confirmed. Moreover, the hypothesis regarding female child’s gender as a factor that signifi-
cantly increases maternal perception of social danger was supported as well. This result can be
Children’s Geographies 115
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
understood in the light of the widespread social stereotype that establishes strong differences
between males and females in terms of their daily lives, how they should socialize and interact,
and how they should use their free time. This stereotype assigns males more freedom (Spencer
and Wooley 2000). Differently, females are more likely to interiorize prohibitions and censure
regarding freedom of movement since they are more exposed to warnings about dangers (Davoli
et al. 2003). It is important to reflect upon the fact that this gendered nature of independent mobi-
lity extends through to adult life. Women are in fact deterred from traveling alone, especially at
night, because of their perception of being more subject to victimization (Gordon and Riger
1989, Tranter 1995).
The importance of a child’s age, as indicator of child’s maturity/ability to cope with environ-
mental dangers, was confirmed too, as it was having older siblings, as well.
Examining the relationship between the other independent variables in detail, interesting
results emerged with reference to the link between context size and mothers’ perceptions. In
line with our hypothesis, the size of context negatively predicted children’s independent mobi-
lity through the mediation of mothers’ perception of social danger, such that the larger the town,
the more the mothers were likely to perceive a threat and the less they granted autonomy of
movement to their children. The size of context was also a predictor of the mothers’ social
links and sense of community: in larger contexts the mothers’ contacts with neighbors were
less frequent yet their sense of community was stronger. This latter finding, contrary to our
hypothesis as well as to the research on this topic, might be explained by the fact that our
study examined only small and medium-sized towns of Central and Southern Italy which are
often characterized by limited cultural resources and opportunities for work and leisure, com-
pared to the city and metropolis, that adversely affect the inhabitants’ attachment of to the com-
munity. Thus, in these specific contexts, the trend of the sense of community may be the opposite
Figure 1. Model of structural equations with significant parameters (path coefficients) typed in
bold and as continuous arrows. Note: In the graph only the structural model is depicted.
116 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
of what is generally expected. In accordance with the literature, instead, neighborhood relation-
ships positively influenced sense of community.
Our hypothesis that weaker community relationships would increase maternal perception of
social danger in larger contexts, thereby negatively affecting independent mobility, was partially
confirmed. Context size did in fact directly influence the perception of social danger as well as
through the mediation of the mothers’ sense of community. In addition, the expected result about
relationships with neighbors was partially obtained. The data confirmed that living in larger con-
texts predicted fewer neighborhood relationships, but this variable did not have the hypothesized
mediating effect on maternal perception of social danger. Conversely, both sense of community
and neighborhood relations significantly mediated the influence of context size on the perceived
positive potentiality of outdoor autonomy. Therefore, in line with our hypothesis, the smaller the
urban contexts, the higher the mothers’ level of social integration, which in turn was in relation
with positive consideration of children’s outdoor autonomy. Finally, our study also confirmed
that the presence of green areas in the neighborhood positively influences the perception of posi-
tive potentiality of outdoor autonomy in child development.
In sum, mothers resulted more inclined to allow autonomy of movement especially when their
child was less young – therefore more competent – when they perceived fewer social dangers
and held a more positive attitude towards outdoor autonomy. However, positive affective links
of the mothers with their own community were capable from, on the one hand, to contrast the
effect of some negative features of urban context – such as the size and the absence of green
areas – on the perception of social danger; on the other hand, they were able to increase the per-
ception of positive potentiality of the autonomy of movement. Thus these findings show that the
socio-psychological variables of mothers – until now scarcely investigated in the literature on
independent mobility of children – can play a protective role against social fears as well as
can stimulate a more positive view of children environment experience. Further, our results
highlight the importance of a variable entirely new to research on this topic, namely the maternal
perception of positive potentiality of children’s’ outdoor autonomy, showing that when the
mothers acknowledged that the autonomous exploration of the urban environment could
provide children with opportunities for cognitive, social and physical development (Alparone
et al. 2003), they tried to overcome their social fears in order to enable and support the mobility
of their children.
Conclusion
The reduced independent mobility of children has recently received more and more attention in
Italy and abroad, and various projects have been developed to improve the relationship between
children and their urban environment. The main aim of the present study was therefore to ident-
ify which factors were principally involved in children’s independent mobility to provide useful
suggestions for planning future actions and projects.
Our results contribute to the understanding of the processes that link individual, contextual,
and psychosocial variables to independent mobility in line with Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) over-
arching theoretical framework which emphasizes the crucial role on children’s development of
multiple contexts – from the proximal level (i.e. the family) to the distal one (i.e. the neighbor-
hood). The environmental features of the children’s living area in fact ‘do not simply imprint
themselves on children since their effects are related to and mediated by other social domains
in which children grow up, specifically the family context’ (Pinkster and Fortuijn 2009,
p. 324). From our results it emerged that the deterioration of parents’ social ties, such sense
of community and neighborhood relations, increases their social danger perception in public
space. On the base of this, parents tend to build multiple barriers which severely restrict their
children’s daily life as well as children’s experience of the surrounding environment. De
Children’s Geographies 117
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
Groof (2008) showed, e.g. that the higher the parental supervision, the higher the fears were
experienced by adolescent children. Moreover, the importance of the parental perception of
social danger and its connection with independent mobility in childhood has also been indirectly
confirmed in a study conducted by American physicians and pediatricians on a very large sample
of 7-year-old children (Lumeng et al. 2006). In fact, Lumeng et al. (2006) found that parental
perception of a neighborhood being unsafe was associated with an increased risk of childhood
obesity, independently of maternal and child characteristics.
With respect to the anticipated interaction between mothers’ perceptions, their psychosocial
characteristics, and environmental features, we found some unexpected results. First of all, we
predicted that sense of community and neighborhood relationships would mediate the influence
of context size on the perception of social danger due to the degree of perceived informal social
control. We found instead that context size exerted a strong direct influence on the perception of
social danger as well as an effect mediated by the sense of community. The former result is,
however, in line with the studies on the fear of crime, which show how the structural features
of context (size, degree of urbanization) largely affect fear of crime (Amerio and Roccato 2005).
Furthermore, as demonstrated by the findings summarized above, sense of community would
be stronger in small cities or in rural towns than in contexts with a greater degree of urbanization
(Obst et al. 2002, Roussi et al. 2006), while our study revealed the opposite. However, a recent
study (Prezza et al. 2009) found a greater sense of community in one city neighborhood com-
pared to four small towns in central and southern Italy. According to the authors, this may
have been due to the unfavorable socioeconomic and cultural conditions that make the small
towns in southern Italy (especially those that are farther away from the cities or metropolis)
unpopular and make their inhabitants particularly dissatisfied with their communities. This
explanation, based on the similar geographical collocations of the contexts in which our data
was collected may support our results. Although this justification is sound, it calls for further
investigations.
The model we tested may represent a valid guide for future research on this topic, although our
study has some limitations that need to be dealt with. The influence of parents’ perception of
local traffic danger on children’s independent mobility was not considered in the model. We
acknowledge that this represents an important drawback, but, at the time of data collection,
there was no valid measure of this variable in Italian. We therefore strongly recommend
using a traffic measure in future research.
At the methodological level, the present research does not fully satisfy the criterion of repre-
sentativeness as it was carried out only on samples of convenience and did not consider large
urban contexts. As explained above, small communities were chosen as research sites, in
order to obtain greater variability of the dependent variable but this choice, anyway, weakens
the chance to generalize the model we tested. Nonetheless, we think that Italian large urban con-
texts deserve special and distinct attention since they are often comprised of neighborhoods
similar to several micro towns, each with peculiar features.
We would also like to explain why there are no evaluations of fathers and children. Because
data collection was performed through collaboration with primary schools, and mothers have
much more daily contact with their children’s schools and teachers than do fathers, it was
much easier to contact and involve them in the study. Moreover, although family organization
in Italy has evolved considerably over the last few decades, and parental roles are no longer so
rigid, mothers still play a more active role in the day-to-day management of their children than
do fathers. In an Italian study conducted with both parents and adolescent children (Pacilli et al.
2006) it emerged that while there was a strong relation between sense of community of mothers
and their children, the relationship between sense of community of fathers and their children did
not reach significance. This seems to confirm the privileged role of mothers in the ‘environment
118 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
socialization’ of their children. Future research anyway should also consider the evaluations of
fathers along with their relationship with mother evaluations.
Regarding the choice not to involve children in our investigation, it is worth noting that
several studies on the independent mobility of children have used only parents’ responses
(Hu
¨
ttenmoser 1995, Prezza et al. 2001, Johansson 2006, Fyhri and Hjorthol 2009). However,
studies involving both parents and children (Tonucci et al. 2002, Prezza et al. 2010) have
obtained consistent responses. Furthermore, our choice was conditioned by our specific interest
in verifying the influence of the mothers’ psychosocial variables on the independent mobility of
their children. As children from 8 to 11 years of age have limited decision-making power in the
management of their everyday life outside the house, their parent’s point of view is of particular
interest.
Finally, apart from the importance of replicating this study in other Italian and European
towns, we believe it represents an important step forward in studying the phenomenon of restric-
tion of independent mobility of children, demonstrating for the first time that many variables of
different kinds – environmental, demographic and psychosocial – so far investigated as separ-
ate, are actually highly interrelated to each other but with a capacity of differentiated impact.
Our results, can also offer valid indications from an applicative point of view. In fact, for
many years now several European countries have promoted projects, inspired by UN Conven-
tions on the Rights of the Child (1989) and Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development (1992), which encourage children’s independent mobility and the autonomous
use of outdoor space. In these projects, work at a structural level is often considered essential
(e.g. reducing traffic and its concomitant dangers; providing accessibility to schools and services
for children; making play areas close to home available; maintaining public parks, sidewalks,
etc.). Nevertheless, our results, while confirming the importance of structural features of the
urban environment, make it clear that their impact on children’s independent mobility is, at
least partially, mediated by evaluations and fears of parents. As a consequence, any measure
aimed at improving children’s independent mobility can be truly effective only if parents are
encouraged to improve their environmental quality perception (see also Fyhri and Hjorthol
2009), reflect on the legitimacy of their own social fears and have confidence in the benefits
that the free use of the public space provides for children’ development.
Notes
1. Items 3, 11, 15, and 17.
2. Originally, we also constructed a third scale to measure the perception of traffic danger, called The Traffic Danger
Perception scale. However, the scale had an unsatisfactory Cronbach’s alpha (.64) and item-total correlations were
too low for different items (,.30). In a later study (Prezza et al. 2010), the scale was substantially modified and
attained full reliability.
References
Alparone, F.R., Prezza, M., Tucci, F., and De Ruosi, A.M., 2003. Come i genitori percepiscono il rischio e l’insicurezza
urbana per i bambini. In: B. Zani, ed. Sentirsi In/sicuri in citta
`
. Bologna, Italia: il Mulino, 131–163.
Amerio, P. and Roccato, M., 2005. A predictive model for psychological reactions to crime in Italy: An analysis of fear of
crime and concern about crime as a social problem. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 15, 17–28.
Bentler, P.M., 1995. EQS Structural Equation Program Manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software.
Bentler, P.M. and Bonett, D.G., 1980. Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.
Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–606.
Bjo
¨
rklid, P., 1995. Children-traffic-environment. Architecture & Behavior, 10, 399–404.
Blakely, K.S., 1994. Parent’s conceptions of social dangers to children in the urban environment. Children’s Environ-
ments, 11, 16–25.
Children’s Geographies 119
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
Bonanomi, L., 1994. L’enfant et la traverse
´
e de la chasse
´
e. Architecture & Comportment/Architecture & Behavior, 10,
391–399.
Bronfenbrenner, U., 1979. The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Brown, B., Perkins, D.D., and Brown, G., 2003. Place attachment in a revitalizing neighborhood: Individual and block
level of analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 259–271.
Brown, B., Mackett, R., Gong, Y., Kitazawa, K., and Paskins, J., 2008. Gender differences in children‘s pathways to inde-
pendent mobility. Children’s Geographies, 6, 385–401.
Buckner, J.C., 1988. The development of an instrument to measure neighbourhood cohesion. American Journal of Com-
munity Psychology, 16, 771–791.
Chawla, L., 1992. Childhood place attachments. In: I. Altman and S.M. Low, eds. Place attachments. Human behavior
and environments. vol. 12. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 63–68.
Chipuer, H., 2001. Dyadic attachment and community connectedness: Links with youth’s loneliness experience. Journal
of Community Psychology, 29, 429–446.
Cicognani, E., 2003. L’insicurezza per gli adolescenti nel contesto urbano: genitori e figli a confronto. In: B. Zani, ed.
Sentirsi in/sicuri in citta
`
. Bologna, Italia: Il Mulino, 165–194.
Cooper, A.S., Andersen, L.B., Wedderkopp, N., Page, A.S., and Froberg, K., 2005. Physical activity level of children
who walk, cycle, or are driven to school. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 29, 179–184.
Davidson, W.B. and Cotter, P.R., 1986. Measurement of sense of community within the sphere of the city. Journal of
Applied and Social Psychology, 16, 608–619.
Davoli, K., Pastore, M., Santinello, M., and Vieno, A., 2003. Vivere con la paura di essere aggrediti sotto casa. In:B.
Zani, ed. In/sicuri in citta
`
. Bologna, Italia: il Mulino, 39–66.
De Groof, S., 2008. And my mama said: The (relative) parental influence on fear of crime among adolescent girls and
boys. Youth & Society, 39, 267–293.
Farrall, S., Bannister, J., Ditton, J., and Gilchrist, E., 2000. Social psychology and fear of crime. British Journal of Crimi-
nology, 40, 399–413.
Forni, E., 2002. La citta
`
di Batman. Bambini, conflitti, sicurezza urbana. Torino, Italy: Boringhieri.
Fox, K.R., 2004. Childhood obesity and the role of physical activity. Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of
Health, 124, 34–39.
Fyhri, A. and Hjorthol, R., 2009. Children’s independent mobility to school, friends and leisure activities. Journal of
Transport Geography, 5, 377–384.
Gaster, S., 1991. Urban children’s access to their neighbourhood. Changes over three generations. Environment and Be-
havior, 23, 70–85.
Gibson, C.L., Zhao, J., Lourich, S., and Galtney, N.P., 2002. Social interpretation, individual perceptions of collective
efficacy and fear of crime in three cities. Justice Quarterly, 19, 537–565.
Giuliani, M.V., Alparone, F.R., and Mayer, S., 1997. Children’s appropriation of urban spaces. Paper presented at Urban
Childhood International Conference, Trondheim, Norway, June.
Gordon, M.T. and Riger, S., 1989. The female fear. New York, NY: Free Press.
Haikkola, L., Pacilli, M.G., Horelli, L., and Prezza, M., 2007. Interpretations of urban child-friendliness. A study in two
neighbourhoods of Helsinki and Rome. Children, Youth and Environment, 17, 319–351.
Hart, R., 1997. Children’s participation: The theory and practice of involving young citizens in community development
and environmental care. London, UK: Earthscan Publication Limited.
Heurlin-Norinder, M., 1996. Children, environment and independent mobility. Paper presented at IAPS 14th Conference,
Stockolm, Sweden, July. Book of Proceedings, 329 –331.
Hillman, M., 1997. Children, transport and the quality of urban life. In: R. Camstra, ed. Growing up in a chancing urban
landscape. Assen, the Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 11 –23.
Hillman, M., Henderson, I., and Whalley, A., 1973. Personal mobility and transport policy. London, UK: Political and
Economic Planning.
Hillman, M., Adams, J., and Whitelegg, J., 1991. One false move... A study of children’s independent mobility. London,
UK: Policy Studies Institute.
Hu
¨
ttenmoser, M., 1995. Children and their living surroundings: Empirical investigation into the significance of living
surroundings for the everyday life and development of children. Children’s Environments, 12, 403–413.
Johansson, M., 2003. Social Dangers as constraints for pro-environmental travel modes. The perception of parents in
England and Sweden. Medio Ambiente y Comportamento Humano, 1, 49–69.
Johansson, M., 2006. Environment and parental factors as determinants of mode for children’s leisure travel. Journal of
Environmental Psychology, 26, 156–169.
Kuo, F.E., Bacaicoa, M., and Sullivan, W.C., 1998. Transforming inner-city landscapes. Trees, sense of safety, and pre-
ference. Environment and Behavior, 30, 28–59.
120 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
Kytta
¨
, M., 1995. The affordances of urban, small town and rural environments for children. Paper presented at International
Conference Building Identities: Gender perspective on children and urban space, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Kytta
¨
, M., 2002. Affordances of children’s environments in the context of cities, small towns, suburbs and rural villages
in Finland and Belarus. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22, 109–123.
Kytta
¨
, M., 2004. The extent of children’s independent mobility and the number of actualized affordances as criteria for
child-friendly environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 179–198.
Lumeng, J.C., Appugliese, D., Cabral, H.J., Bradley, R.H., and Zuckerman, B., 2006. Neighborhood safety and over-
weight status in children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 160, 25–31.
MacCallum, R.C. and Austin, J.T., 2000. Applications of structural equation modelling in psychological research. Annual
Review of Psychology, 51, 201–226.
Mackett, R.L., 2004. Making children’s lives more active. Factsheet, Centre for Transport Studies, University College,
London. Available from: http://www.cts.ucl.ac.uk/research/chcaruse/ [Accessed December 18, 2005].
Mikkelsen, M.R. and Christensen, P., 2009. Is children’s independent mobility really independent? A study of children’s
mobility combining ethnography and GPS/Mobile phone technologies. Mobilities, 4, 37–58.
Noschis, K., 1994. The urban child. Architecture & Comportment, Architecture & Behavior, 10, 343–350.
O’Brien, M., Jones, D., Sloan, D., and Rustin, M., 2000. Children’s independent mobility in the urban public realm.
Childhood, 7, 257–277.
Obst, P., Smith, S.G., and Zinkiewicz, L., 2002. An exploration of sense of community, part 3: Dimensions and predictors
of psychological sense of community in geographical communities. Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 119–133.
Moore, R., 1986. Childhood’s Domain. London, UK: Croom Helm.
Pacilli, M.G., Racciati, G., and Ronzone, S., 2006. La trasmissione intergenerazionale del senso di comunita
`
: il ruolo
dell’identificazione degli adolescenti con i genitori [Intergenerational transmission of sense of community: the role
of adolescents’identification with their parents]. Speech presented at the 6th Italian National Conference on Commu-
nity Psychology, Lecce, 7–9 September 2006.
Pinkster, F.M. and Fortuijn, J.D., 2009. Watch out for the neighborhood trap! A case study on parental perceptions of and
strategies to counter risks for children in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Children’s Geographies, 7, 323–337.
Prezza, M., 2007. Children’s independent mobility: A review of recent Italian literature. Children, Youth and Environ-
ments, 17 (4), 293–318.
Prezza, M. and Pacilli, M.G., 2002. Il vicinato. In: M. Prezza and M. Santinello, eds. Conoscere la comunita
`
. L’analisi
degli ambienti di vita quotidiana. Bologna, Italia: Il Mulino, 235–256.
Prezza, M. and Pacilli, M.G., 2007. Current fear of crime, sense of community, and loneliness in Italian adolescents: The
role of autonomous mobility and play during childhood. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 151–170.
Prezza, M., Costantini, S., Chiarolanza, V., and Di Marco, S., 1999. La scala italiana del senso di comunita
`
. Psicologia
della Salute,3/4, 153–158.
Prezza, M., Morabito, C., Pilloni, S., Sersante, C., and Alparone, F.R., 2000. La mobilita
`
autonoma dei bambini nel con-
testo urbano e il cortile, il parco e la strada privata come spazi di gioco. Psicologia della Salute, 3, 81–97.
Prezza, M., Pilloni, S., Morabito, C., Sersante, C., Alparone, F.R., and Giuliani, M.V., 2001. The influence of psycho-
social and environmental factors on children’s independent mobility and relationship to peer frequentation. Journal
of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 11, 435–450.
Prezza, M., Alparone, F.R., Cristallo, C., and Secchiano, L., 2005. Parental perception of social risk and of positive
potentiality of outdoor autonomy for children: the proposal of two instruments. Journal of Environmental Psychology,
25, 437–453.
Prezza, M., Pacilli, M.G., Barbaranelli, C., and Zampatti, E., 2009. The MTSOCS: A multidimensional sense of com-
munity scale for local communities. Journal of Community Psychology
, 37, 305–326.
Prezza, M., Alparone, F.R., Renzi, D., and Pietrobono, A., 2010. Social participation and independent mobility in chil-
dren: The effects of two implementations of ‘We go to school alone’. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Com-
munity, 38, 8–25.
Riger, S., Lebailly, R.K., and Gordon, M.T., 1981. Community ties and urbanites’ fear of crime: An ecological investi-
gation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 653–665.
Rissotto, A. and Giuliani, M.G., 2006. Learning neighbourhood environments. The loss of experience in a modern world.
In: C. Spencer and M. Blades, eds. Children and their environments. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
75–90.
Ross, C.E. and Jang, S.J., 2000. Neighbourhood disorder, fear, and mistrust: The buffering role of social ties with neigh-
bours. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 401–420.
Roussi, P., Rapiti, F., and Kiosseoglou, G., 2006. Coping and psychological sense of community: An exploratory study of
urban and rural areas in Greece. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 19, 161–173.
Salmon, J., Timperio, A., Cleland, V., and Venn, A., 2005. Trends in children’s physical activity and weight status in high
and low socio-economic status areas of Melbourne, Victoria, 1985– 2001. Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Public Health, 29, 337–342.
Children’s Geographies 121
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
Santinello, M., Gonzi, P., and Scacchi, L., 1998. Le paure della criminalita
`
. Aspetti psicosociali di comunita
`
. Milano,
Italia: Giuffre
`
.
Sissons Joshi, M., MacLean, M., and Carter, W., 1997. Children’s journeys to school—new data and further comments.
World Transport Policy & Practice, 3, 17–22.
Spencer, C. and Wooley, H., 2000. Children and the city: A summary of recent environmental psychology research.
Child: Care, Health & Development, 26, 181–198.
Timpero, A., Crawford, D., Telford, A., and Salmon, J., 2004. Perceptions about the local neighbourhood and walking
and cycling among children. Preventive Medicine, 38, 39–47.
Tonucci, F., Prisco, A., Renzi, D., and Rissotto, A., 2002. L’autonomia di movimento dei bambini italiani. ‘La citta
`
dei
bambini’. Roma: Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione del CNR, Quaderno n. 1 del Progetto.
Tranter, P.J., 1995. Behind closed doors: Women, girls and mobility, In One the Move: Debating the issue that affect
women and public transport. Adelaide, Australia: Transadelaide.
Tranter, P. and Pawson, E., 2001. Children’s access to local environments: A case-study of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Local Environment, 6, 27–48.
Valentine, G., 1997. ‘My son’s a bit dizzy.’ ‘My wife’s a bit soft’: Gender, children and cultures of parenting. Gender,
Place and Culture, 4, 37–62.
Valentine, G. and McKendrick, J., 1997. Children’s outdoor play: Exploring parental concerns about children’s safety
and the changing nature of childhood. Geoforum, 28, 219–235.
van der Spek, M. and Noyon, R., 1997. Children’s freedom of movement in streets. In: R. Camstra, ed. Growing up in a
changing urban landscape. Assen, the Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 102–118.
Wikstro
¨
m, P.H. and Dolme
´
n, L., 2001. Urbanization, Neighbourhood social integration, informal social control, minor
social disorder, victimization and fear of crime. International Review of Victimology, 8, 221–140.
Appendix
The overall score of children’s independent mobility variable was derived from the following six variables:
(1) Home-school autonomy (0 ¼ never goes to or from school alone or with peers;1¼ sometimes goes or returns alone
or with peers;2¼ often goes but never or sometimes returns alone or with peers/ never goes but often or sometimes
returns alone or with peers;3¼ often goes to and from alone or with peers).
(2) Autonomy in going to organized activities (0 ¼ never,1¼ sometimes,2¼ often,3¼ always).
(3) Autonomy in going to friends’ houses (0 ¼ never,1¼ sometimes,2¼ often,3¼ always).
(4) Errand autonomy during the day (0 ¼ never,1¼ sometimes,2¼ often,3¼ always).
(5) Errand autonomy after sunset (0 ¼ never,1¼ sometimes,2¼ often,3¼ always).
(6) Outside play autonomy (0 ¼ the child is accompanied by adults and there are always adults who keep an eye on
him/her;1¼ he/she sometimes goes there autonomously and is not always supervised by adults;2¼ he/she
goes there autonomously/ stays in places very close to home;3¼ he/she goes and plays autonomously, even in
further-away places, in the open).
With these six partial scores of autonomy, a principal component factorial analysis was performed. The first factor
explained 38% of the variance and on it all six variables obtained a loading greater than .54. All item-total correlations
were greater than .40 and Cronbach’s alpha was .66. These results were considered satisfactory and the average response
to the valid items was calculated (a maximum of two missing values was tolerated). Thus the overall score of children’s
independent mobility was given by the sum of six score variables.
122 F.R. Alparone and M.G. Pacilli
Downloaded by [87.11.233.210] at 13:44 11 October 2012
