Brussoni – risky outdoor play and child health

In 2015, we published a Systematic Review which was actually part of a broader process. We did two Systematic Reviews that then ultimately led to the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. So one of the reviews was on what is the relationship between risky outdoor play and health? And so we looked across the literature at the research that was available and, specifically, we were looking at studies where, that included a comparison group. So a group that got exposed to risky play and the group that didn’t and if it didn’t meet those criteria for children aged three to 12 then it was excluded. 

And so we ended up with 21 studies that were included in that and not all elements of risky play were reflected in the literature. You’ll recall that the term risky play itself is actually quite new and so we had to be a bit creative on how we did our searching but we included risky play supportive environments, play where there’s a chance of getting lost, play at heights and rough and tumble play. So, as I recall, those were the four that we ended up finding material for. 

And, so what we’ve found, essentially, was that risky play was positively associated with health. Specifically it promoted physical activity, reduced sedentary behaviour, promoted social behaviours and, for me as an injury prevention researcher, I think what was more interesting than those findings was a lack of finding of an association with injury. So we didn’t see an increase in injuries as a result of risky play which has been one of the big things that people are so worried about.