A Study of Parents’ Perceived Constraints on Participating in Outdoor Leisure Activities with Their Children in Japan

Outdoor activities have been shown to have numerous positive impacts. As children's time spent in nature decreases, it is important to move beyond just encouraging children to go outside and instead urge the entire family to spend time together in natural surroundings. While cultural norms influence family behavior, there is currently insufficient research on family leisure in Asian countries to allow comparisons. The purpose of this study is to clarify the outdoor leisure constraints of Japanese parents with children and examine the relationship between these constraints and participation frequency in outdoor leisure activities with children. A web-based survey was employed to obtain responses from parents (n = 193) whose children were between 3 and 11 years old. This study clarified four constraining factors affecting Japanese parents: psychological, physiological, and environmental; accessibility; commitment; and time. Accessibility constraints were a key driver in predicting the frequency of participation in outdoor leisure activities.