In This Version

• Continue Making Our Case: Arts and Physical Environment
• Research Alert 2005 – Leading Trends for 2005
• Up Close and In-depth: Out of School Activities
• Americans’ Health is Better… But
  

Added Promise and Power of Parks and Recreation

One of the purposes of trendSCAN© is to provide information that supports the power, promise, potential, and possibilities that parks and recreation hold for individuals, groups, communities, and society as a whole. Some new information in support of those efforts includes the following:

• Levels of Physical Activity and Park Acreage: A study in the current issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion analyzed information based upon 500,000 people in 34 urban areas to take a look at the role played by urban design and levels of fitness. Drum roll please…San Francisco has the highest percentage of urban park land and the highest percentage of urban recreational walkers and cyclists. Memphis, TN and Atlanta, GA ranked last in the percentage of residents involved in recreational walking and cycling and placed in the bottom 10 cities based upon amount of park land. The study suggests that levels of walking and biking by city dwellers is related to how much access to such spaces they have. (USA Today, March 1, 2005)
• Social Capital: A RAND study conducted for the Wallace Foundation suggests that art programs and experiences should be viewed as an investment in social capital. The study found that appreciation for the arts is the first step towards establishing skills such as learning, empathy, and building stronger social bonds in communities. Such skills are believed to serve as a basis for developing social capital. Recommendations and findings from this study of interest to parks and recreation include:
  • two key factors related to effective art involvement include:
    (1) early childhood experiences that are ongoing and
    (2) art experiences that include high levels of emotional, mental, and social engagement
  • powerful, individual art experiences can lead to broader public benefits
  • sole emphasis upon instrumental benefits such as economic impact, does not provide a basis for complete public policy decisions
  • direct involvement in the performing arts create the strongest arts-involvement effect for youth

(Source: RAND Corporation. http://www.rand.org/press.05/02.15hit)

• Evidence of Built Environment and Physical Activity: A new report (January 2005) from the National Academies' Transportation Research Board and Institute of Medicine shows a link between physical activity and the "built" environment, such things as buildings, roads, parks, and other structures that physically define a community. Committee chair Susan Hanson, Landry University Professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. said that "We know from empirical evidence that the built environment can encourage some forms of physical activity, such as walking and cycling, for some population groups. Hanson added that a major recommendation of the study is that additional research is needed to assess whether the built environment affects people's actual levels of physical activity.

(Source: Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence at http://www.trb.org)

Research Alert 2005 – Leading Trends for 2005

Every year the editors of Research Alert review data from the past year and identify those trends they perceive as leading indicators for the next year. Some excerpts from this yearbook with potential applications for our field include:

Demographics

• Immigrants from Latin America and Asia continue to be the largest groups entering the United States
• Immigration patterns account for one of every 8 U.S. residents
• Affluent markets pursue unique experiences over material possessions
• Hispanic consumers are not as different from other American consumers as once thought; differences relate to income and family size rather than ethnic background
• There are fewer women who are mothers than there was in previous decades and those mothers have fewer children
• Today’s families are more likely to consist of adopted members and step-members
• GLBT (gay men and lesbian women) market are changing the face of the country and are being recognized by the business community as having sizeable economic impact
• The older baby boomers are coming closer to “senior” status, a life stage in which they don’t identify, and are sure to change what aging means in America
• Life has generally improved for older Americans as they are living longer and better; exceptions to this heightened well-being are women, minorities, and people with less than adequate education
• KIPPERS – new group of adult children (Kids in Parents’ Pockets Eating Retirement Savings)
• Children between the ages of 8 and 10 tend to think more seriously about the importance of eating healthy and exercising than do their mothers
• Hispanic teens are moving more into mainstream culture and they do so while managing to remain connected with their roots

Patterns and Preferences

• People continue to search for a quick fix as evidenced by popularity of diet plans and products
• Energy drinks and bars are experiencing growth as Americans pursue health-on-the-go
• Carbonated beverages continue to lose out to alternatives that are perceived as being healthier such as water and juice drinks
• Tortillas now place second to white bread as the country’s most popular bread
• More than 25% of American adults have received some kind of mental health treatment in the past two years
• One in seven Americans have had some kind of plastic surgery
• Four in 10 Americans donate $500 or more every year to charity; religious organizations remain the biggest recipient of these types of donations
• Nearly half of Americans 45 years of age and over donate both time and money to charities and community organizations
• Religion continues to remain a paradox in the United States as people appear to be more active in religion while the numbers that participate in organized worship continue to decrease
• This country is the most diverse country in the world on the basis of religion with at least 55 different groups
• 85% of mosques in the United States experienced growth
• Many Protestant churches are moving towards more “with it” services as well as branching out to include different types of services to appeal to different churchgoers
• Personal debt continues to be a problem for Americans, but this does not appear to have slowed their use of credit cards

Entertainment, Sports, and Leisure Pursuits

• A family of four averages as much as $275 to attend just one out-of-home event
• Teens are spending less money on music and more on videogames
• Hobbies and crafts maintain their popularity; the most adamant participants use as much as one half of their discretionary time on these interests
• More than one-quarter of American adults, especially those with greater discretionary income, consider casino gambling a leisure time activity
• Young adults use media in small chunks and multi-task rather than devoting a
  whole evening to television as older adults might do
• More than 40% of Americans IM
• Three out of 10 households now pay at least some of their bills online
• High school sports participation grew for the 15th year in a row
• Golf faces a decline in popularity mostly due to affordability, time, and skill issues
• Health club memberships continue to increase while just over half of the members work out at their club regularly
• The “mind-body” forms of physical activity continue in popularity, yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, etc.
• Today’s kids spend more time with videogames than with more traditional toys
• Cruises continue to see increasing numbers of passengers
• Four of every 10 Americans went on a trip and visited a national park over the last five year period

Consumer Spending

• Americans love their pets and tend not to scrimp on purchases for them
• Convenience remains one of the important factors for people when shopping
• Malls continue to fall in popularity as expenditures in super-centers have increased
• Boomers are the most frequent shoppers at discount stores; primarily so they can pay for other higher-priced luxuries they want
• Purchases related to improving personal health and/or environmental benefits were 4.2% of the gross domestic product; a 6.3% increase in one year
• Three in four Americans currently use cell phones
• Single person households are most likely to use cell as their primary phone

(Source: Research ALERT, January 7, 2005. The 2005 Research Alert Yearbook is available from EPM Communications, www.epmcom.com)

Out of School Activities Crucial for Kids

A recent study, All Work and No Play?Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time, funded by The Wallace Foundation and conducted by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research organization, focused upon the role of after school activity for youth. This study surveyed middle and high school students and parents about this topic. The purpose of this research was to provide insight into policy discussions about the impact such programs have on improved academic achievement.

Overall conclusions from this study:

• Most youth are involved in after school activities and they believe it is important for them to do so
• Over half of youth surveyed, if given a choice, would choose sports during the non-school hours
• Motivational factors between both low income and minority youth and parents are quite different than those of higher income, white families
• The answer to most parents’ biggest challenge: summer activities for their children, most especially teens
• There is still a sizeable “Home Alone” group out there
• Sports and extracurricular activities are the most common after school and weekend behaviors among this age group
• Making friends, learning, and having fun are among the highest outcomes identified by youth participants

Findings from the youth surveyed included

Levels and Types of Participation

• 79% of middle and high school students participate regularly in some kind of non-school activity
• 57% indicate they have a non-school activity of some kind nearly every day
• Given a choice, 54% would choose a sports activity; 36% music or dance;
  while 32% would like homework help and 28% would like to focus on academics
• 79% of youth surveyed felt the adults in charge of their programs really cared about kids

Role of Non-School Participation

• the majority of youth surveyed indicated that non-school activities such as sports, arts, music, church played a crucial role in their lives
• 85% of youth surveyed felt the kids who participate in such activities are “better off” than those who don’t
• only 12% thought that academic achievement was the best reason for youth to be involved in these programs

Parents surveyed revealed the following information:

Parental View on Such Programs

• 41% of parents felt that the best reason to involve kids in these programs was so they could develop hobbies or interests
• 27% indicated that the best reason was to keep them busy and out of trouble
• 16% believed the best reason was for kids to have fun
• only 15% indicated that improving school achievement was the best reason for such participation
• 71% describe their child’s most recent organized activity as being high quality and run by capable people

Parental Preference for Programs

When asked which of the 3 types of programs would be the best match for their child, the responses included:

• 48% selected “teaching the value of hard work and commitment”
• 33% picked “helping other people”
• 17% chose a program that reinforces religious faith.

Differences between Low Income and Minority Responses (for the purpose of this study defined as income less than $25,000 per year and minority including African American and Hispanics)

The kids says that…

• improved academic performance is the best reason to be involved in such programs (low vs. higher income: 52% to 28%; minority vs. white: 56% vs. 27%)
• they would very much like a program that focused on academics (low vs. higher income: 39% to 24%; minority vs. white: 45% to 23%)

The parents believe…

• Youth are better off in programs emphasizing academics (low vs. higher income: 45% to 35%; minority vs. white: 56% to 27%)
• Low income and minority parents would go out of their way to find a supervised homework program (low vs. higher income: 52% to 28%; minority vs. white: 56% to 27%)
• Lower income, minority parents indicate it is harder to find affordable, high quality, conveniently located after school programs that are interesting to their child.

Community Options

• 70% of parents and 72% of teens think their communities could do more when it comes to having things for teens to do
• 58% of parents indicate summer is the hardest time to find things for their children to do, especially teens
• Lower income and minority parents are more likely to indicate that their kids don’t have good options when it comes to summer (low vs. higher income: 63% to 43%; minority vs. white: 62% to 44%)

Non-Involvement

• Nearly 3 in 10 of the youth surveyed indicated they are “home alone” after school at least 3 days a week
• 77% of youth surveyed believe kids get into trouble when they are bored and have nothing to do
• 71% of youth believe that lack of involvement is due to lack of motivation on the part of the non-participants
• Only 27% think their community is doing as much as it could for having things for them to do

After School and Weekend Patterns

What do American middle and high school students do after school and on weekends:

• 66% - sport activities
• 62% - school clubs or extracurricular activities
• 60% - volunteer work
• 54% - attend religious related activity or instruction
• 52% - take lessons, music, dance, art, etc.
• 52% - after school program at school or other location
• 37% - high school students have part-time jobs
• 30% - tutoring or extra academic or test prep

Students rate the after school or weekend activities that they spend the most time with in a very positive manner as follows:

• 92% - made good friends there
• 86% - learned a lot
• 85% - usually have a lot of fun
• 79% - adults in charge really cared about kids
• 79% - easy and convenient to get to
• 59% - other kids took it seriously and paid attention

(Additional Information on All Work and No Play? Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time can be accessed at www.publicagenda.org or www.wallacefoundation.org)

Health of Americans: Better but…

According to an analysis of 18 different personal, community, and public health factors examined over the past 15 years by the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnerships for Prevention, the health of Americans has improved.

Overall conclusions of this report include:

• There has been a 17.5% improvement in the overall health of Americans.
• Rate of health improvement is slowing.
• The annual rate of improvement during the 1990s was approximately 1.5%.
• The rate in this new decade, the 2000s, has slowed to less than 1%.

  The Good News
  
  o 25% decline since 1990 in smoking; 4% decline between 2004 to 2004
  o 19% in violent crime since 1990; 2% decrease between 2003 and 2004

  Mixed News

  o 1.5% increase between 2004 and 2004 in 9th graders who graduate high school within four years
  o Overall decrease in high school graduation rates since 1990
  o High school graduation rates are important indicators of health since higher levels of education generally associated with fewer adverse behaviors
  o California ranks #22 on state health rankings in 2004

  The Not-So-Good News

  o Our overall health only improved 0.6% between 2003 and 2004
  o 8% increase in children living in poverty
  o 3.2% increase in people considered obese
  o 2.6% increase in people without health insurance
  o 1.4% increase in infant mortality rate; the United States ranks 28th in the world on this indicators

  Mental Distress

  o The levels of frequent mental distress (FMD) for American adults rose to 10.1% in 2001 from a level of 8.4% in 1993 (more recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control). FMD is suffering from stress, depression, or emotional problems for 14 or more days per month. The self-reports for FMD are higher in general for women, American Indian/Alaska native, and other race, non-Hispanic.

  Living Longer

  o Of the 36 million Americans aged 65 years of age or over, most were healthier, wealthier, and better educated than older people in the past
  o Women, minorities, and people with limited education are disproportionately disadvantaged on the healthier and wealthier indicators
  o A American female reaching age 65 and a American man reaching the age 65 can expect to live an additional 19 and 16 years respectively (2001)
  o Decline of older Americans with chronic disability went from 25% in 1984 to 20% in 1999
  o 69% of older Americans were overweight or obese in 1999-2000

(Source: Research ALERT, 12/3/04)

TIPS – Trends into Practice

Remember the value of trend information is only related to how one uses the information. So consider some of the following:

Continued Reinforcement of Our Important Role:

It is all together too easy to get caught up in all the day-to-day work, but please be sure to take the time to either

• re-orient existing programs, services, facilities, and open space towards important benefits we provide for individuals and communities
  AND/OR
• reinforce the contributions of those services to youth development, social capital, health, etc. to decision-makers, community leaders, and participants

How about?

• Summer is coming – rapidly as a matter of fact. Incorporate that #1 challenge for parents – finding something for their teens to do and become the community hero.
• Affordable, high quality, accessible summer programming is a very important priority for parents – here’s a great opportunity to shine
• Use some of that same ”after school” information for budget justification
• In low income or minority communities, it is critical that after-school and summer programs that are accessible and interesting to children become a priority.
• Consider ways that parks and recreation can provide successful experiences and adult relationships for teens and young adults this coming summer?

Program/Service Audit or Review

There’s quite an assortment of data and information within the Research 2005 section. Sit down on your own or with a few co-workers and see what, if any, changes or additions you might make to programs and services on the basis of those leading trends.

______________________________

trendSCAN is created by CPRS by Leisure Lifestyle Consulting of Sarasota, FL. Comments and questions can be directed to Dr. Ellen O’Sullivan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please feel free to share interesting trend information with her as well.