Children and the public realm: antecedents and consequences of independent mobility in a group of 11–13-year-old Italian children

Access to several play environments, as well as exploration of public spaces and socialization with peers, is crucial for children's development. Western children are often deprived of these opportunities and independent mobility is constantly decreasing. In the present study, we aimed to test an integrative model of the antecedents and consequences of independent mobility and to preliminarily explore the relationship between parenting styles and independent mobility in a group of 589 Italian children. We expected and found that being female and being younger predicted less independent mobility. In turn, we found that lower independent mobility predicted greater feelings of loneliness through the mediation of a weaker sense of community, a lower sense of safety and less frequent social activities with friends. Moreover, we found that independent mobility changed according to different configurations of parenting styles.