Table 6.

Exosystem barriers to physical activity for schoolchildren.

Exosystem
Categories	Subcategories	Code	Parents’ Verbalizations
Barriers in the community and in the physical and built environment that hamper physical activity		Adverse weather conditions	“...Well, we have it divided into two seasons, winter and summer. In winter it’s cold and we can’t go outside, so all the activity is concentrated inside the house” (M2, FG2). “When it rains or whatever, they go inside and play video games or whatever, or watch TV. And when you leave them, they spend all day playing video games, it’s like that...” (M1, FG4).
		Lack of spaces and infrastructures for physical activity	“...In a big city you want to practice hockey and you can practice it, you want to practice thousands of sports and you have to... maybe you have to move, because of course, you are not going to have it in your neighborhood. But here, many sports, you can’t even practice them because you don’t have the possibility to practice them, nor do you have sports facilities to do so” (F2, FG1). “And then there are no sports facilities either, because they are, let’s say, owned by the council, you have to be registered to go and play, even in the few parks, unless it’s a sports center where everyone can go and play, not here, here if you go to the football pitch you have to be registered, if you go to Judo you have to be registered, but a sports center where kids can go and play and there is no traffic at all, there is none of that. There, they have basketball courts, tennis courts, paddle courts, indoor football courts, but here, there is none of that” (F6, FG3).
		Low offers of organized activities and sports, cost of organized activities and materials	“...Maybe you have to move, because, of course, you won’t have it in your neighborhood. But here, many sports, you can’t even practice them because you don’t have the possibility to practice them” (M1, FG1).
		Cost of organized activities and materials	“What happens is that it’s more expensive and it got to a point where I said ’no’, because you have to pay for the belts, which cost a lot of money. What it costs... to go to karate, then the outfit, then the trips that you have to take to the competition... and I’m just saying no” (M2, FG8).
	Limitations on the use of public and community spaces	Restrictions and prohibitions	“You can’t play ball because it’s a park. You can’t ride a bike because it’s a park, parks have always been made for children to play, not to be restricted, right? Or removing them... Both here in the village and in a city, I know what happens, don’t I? Instead of creating free zones or clean zones for them to play in, they limit them” (F6, FG4).
		Occupation of parks and other spaces by older children	“There are also older kids, younger kids get kicked out right away and all that…” (M6, FG4).
	Long distances	Difficulty in attending organized activities	“...My girls wanted to go to gymnastics, which they do. But since it’s so long, it’s impossible. It takes them a long time to eat and they arrive at four o’clock, it’s impossible, I don’t have time” (M5, FG3).
		Promotion of car use	“...When they go to the swimming pool, they go by car because it’s a bit further away” (M1, FG1).
		Difficulties going outside to play with friends and schoolmates in urban areas	“...The after-school activity you had was to go out to the little square next, or to the park next to play, alone with friends from the neighborhood, but there was that, there were friends from the neighborhood, but now there aren’t any. Because now many of the children who come to this school don’t live in this neighborhood...” (M1, FG1).
	Perceived lack of safety	Heavy traffic	“I remember when I was little, of course it was a long time ago, but you would go out and spend the whole afternoon playing and there was no problem at all. Your mother would call you to come in for a snack and you would come in, now the kid, I live practically opposite the school and you have to take him almost up to the door, because of the traffic. Everyone goes very fast with cars up and down the street, it’s not that you don’t want him to go out, but if it’s a street, more or less a busy one, you just can’t relax” (P1, GF5). “The limitations are set by us, because even though I have a school and so on, I don’t feel safe... for the child to go out alone at the age of seven, I don’t feel safe, maybe I’m paranoid, but there is a lot of traffic and I don’t feel safe. So for the child to go out alone I don’t...” (M3, FG7). “You can’t be sure that, if you go home to get something and she’s out, you can’t, you can’t, because with the traffic alone it’s impossible to leave her alone at any time, because in any situation they arrive and it’s impossible, it’s impossible, to be aware, no, no” (F6, FG1).
		Fear of accidents and abductions	“To be happy like before, you have to go back a few, a few good years, when children could go alone to their grandmother, without fear of being stolen or stepped on, of being caught out there, just like leaving the door open, that anything can happen...” (M2, FG5). “...I don’t know what generates fear, but it is true that you are afraid that they are on the street for fear of being abducted or for fear of being run over by a car or for fear of a lot of things...” (M5, FG4).
		Need for supervision	“I don’t leave them anywhere unsupervised, I don’t leave them anywhere unsupervised, maybe I don’t know... maybe there are people who think that at seven years old they are old enough make a life for themselves” (M2, FG7).
Factors in the academic curriculum that limit physical activity		Insufficient time allocated to physical education	“I think that the role of the school in the physical activity of the children is minimal, they do the minimum, that is, there are three hours of class, of gymnastics, but they do the minimum. They don’t teach them, they don’t teach them to play basketball, or to play any sport” (M1, FG3).
		Physical education is assigned less importance than other subjects	“...But of course, if the academic obligation doesn’t leave you time for that... well... the academic obligation is a priority, whether we like it or not, this is the system. As long as they don’t give more importance to physical education” (F1, FG7).
		Physical education as a graded subject	“I think that, for example, the fact that physical education is graded can be an incentive for some children and a demotivating one for others” (F2, FG6).

Abbreviations: M = Mother; F = Father; FG = Focus Group. Distinction of FG by rural or urban setting: Rural area: FG3, FG4, FG7, and FG8; Urban area: FG1, FG2, FG5, and FG6.