Promotion of Health for Urban Preschool Children: Connecting the Dots

Dear Colleagues，

According to the UN, the majority of the world’s population is now living in urban settings. This movement from a rural to an urban habitat is increasingly linked to a system of toxic health issues for adults and children. One of the largest examples of such health effects is the increase of noncommunicable diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. These diseases are generating a snowball of negative health and economic consequences for families and society in general. Among the most vulnerable populations for these diseases are urban preschool children.

Interventions promoting healthy lifestyles are suggested to be more adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, and locale. Moreover, evidence shows that better-tailored interventions targeting specific populations and groups within it are more efficient. The urban setting is one of the arenas for developing targeted interventions, with subgroups of populations requiring specific support.

The lifestyles of families with preschool children in an urban environment seem to differ from those in the countryside; diets, distances travelled for key activities, occupations of parents, and the location of activities all vary significantly between urban and rural populations. Lifestyle habits have been thoroughly studied and organized in a range of populations. As an example, physical activity, apart from being described as active play, when referring to younger children, is further subdivided into structured, achievement-oriented activities and free play. Furthermore, this play can be conducted indoors and outdoors. This example can be further witnessed in studies on feeding and eating habits, mental health, and so on.

An unfortunate current trend in urban society is toward the replacement of free outdoor play with structured indoor activities (Gray et al 2015). Following on this, another commonality between families with preschool children in urban settings is that they are more disconnected from nature. Connectedness to nature (CN) can be measured, and those with higher CN are being seen to exhibit a range of health benefits; a number of studies of empirical character have described the impact of urban green spaces on human health. Recently, more research groups are trying to address the causal relationship involving CN. A study by Gray et al. (2015), published in IJERPH, concluded in its review that there were negative associations between urban green spaces and mortality, heart rate, and violence, and positive associations with attention, mood, and physical activity in adults. However, information on such associations for preschool children is scarce.

More research coming out on the topic of nature, the outdoors, and forest/garden schools indicates a possible influence on a number of positive health outcomes, such as physical activity, diet, mental health, and sleep in preschool children. Study after study has investigated in depth these connections individually, but few address the implied connection between each of these lifestyle habits. For example, active play in very young children and eating habits in the early ages of life have been traditionally examined separately, although some recent studies have elucidated the “cross-influence” between these. Such a link was described by Chaput et al. (2018) showing that, across the world, greater time spent outdoors was associated with healthier dietary pattern scores, while no links were found between outdoor time and unhealthy eating. By connecting the dots, we may find other important associations between individual lifestyle factors, which will help to further improve intervention strategies for families with preschool children.

This Special Issue in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health aims to elucidate the possible factors related to promoting healthy lifestyle habits in families with preschool children living urban settings. The range of the related topics might be too wide, so we have focused this Special Issue on topics describing the links between outdoor time (reflected in activity levels) and eating habits in preschool children living in urban areas and how these influence health outcomes.

Dr. Tanja Sobko
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• early lifestyle interventions
• preschool children
• eating habits
• feeding behaviors
• nutrition
• connectedness to nature
• active play
• mental health