The influence of psychosocial and environmental factors on children's independent mobility and relationship to peer frequentation

The first aim of this study was to investigate whether demographic characteristics of children (i.e. age, sex, birth order), mothers' psychosocial characteristics (i.e. fear of crime, neighbourhood relations, sense of community, perceived risk of traffic) and environmental factors (i.e. living in a new/old neighbourhood, in a building with a condominium courtyard, near a park or in a private street) influence the independent urban mobility of 7-12-year-old children. The second aim was to verify whether children who are more independent meet their peers more frequently for indoor and outdoor play. A semi-structured interview, the Italian Sense of Community Scale and a Neighbourhood Relations scale were administered to 251 mothers living in Rome. The results indicated that more independent children are older, male, live in apartment buildings with courtyards, near parks and in new neighbourhoods. Also, their mothers have more neighbourhood relations. Regarding the second aim, it emerged that children who are more independent play more often with their peers, both indoors and outdoors. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.