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This study aimed to explore parent-reported facilitators and barriers to AP in preschool-aged children and whether these differ by sociodemographic characteristics.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Cross-sectional data were from the British Preschool Children\u2019s Play Survey, a nationally representative survey investigating play in British 2\u20134-year-olds. Parent-reported facilitators and barriers were analysed using a coding framework, with \u03c7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      tests used to determine whether facilitators and barriers differed by sociodemographic characteristics (parent gender; child gender; ethnicity (white vs non-white); urbanicity (urban\/suburban\/rural); social grade (higher\/lower); child age (2, 3 or 4 years); and child\u2019s perceived motor skills).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Parents of 1166 children provided valid data. Safety (15.0%) and supervision (10.4%) were the most commonly reported facilitators, with child preferences (\u03c7\u00b2=10.74, p=0.0008) and parental attitudes (\u03c7\u00b2=5.60, p=0.006) more likely to be reported by white (vs minority ethnic) parents. Barriers were dominated by concerns about physical injury (18.8%) and safety (11.7%), with risk of injury reported by mothers more frequently than fathers (\u03c7\u00b2=21.5, p&lt;0.001) and parental attributes reported more frequently than fathers (\u03c7\u00b2=17.2, p&lt;0.001).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ensuring safety and supervision are important facilitators for children\u2019s AP. Similar concerns about injury are perceived barriers. Given the benefits of AP for preschool-aged children, efforts to support AP opportunities should be prioritised. As the largest identified factor (both positive and negative) is children\u2019s safety, future research efforts should acknowledge this.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjph-2025-004530","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T08:00:10Z","timestamp":1788768010000},"page":"e004530","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Facilitators and barriers to adventurous play in British preschool-aged children: cross-sectional findings from the British Preschool Children\u2019s Play Survey"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"4","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0250-5358","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tom","family":"Rance","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IMS Epidemiology, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brooke","family":"Oliver","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Helen F","family":"Dodd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Sport Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3963-9189","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kathryn R","family":"Hesketh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IMS Epidemiology, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK"},{"name":"UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026090701000670000_4.3.e004530.1","unstructured":"United Nations . 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