This paper presents a detailed analysis of discretionary leisure activityengagement by children. Children's leisure activity engagement is of much interest to transportation professionals from an activity-based travel demand modeling perspective, to child development professionals from a sociological perspective, and to health professionals from an active lifestyleperspective that can help prevent obesity and other medical ailments froman early age. Using data from the 2002 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this paper presents a detailed analysis of children's discretionary activity engagement by day of week (weekend versus weekday), location (in-home versus out-of-home), type of activity (physically active versus passive), and nature of activity (structured versusunstructured). By modeling children's leisure activity engagement across these multiple dimensions, valuable insights are obtained regarding the nature of activity engagement patterns and the observed and unobserved factors that influence these patterns. A mixed multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MMDCEV) model formulation is adopted to account for the fact that children may participate in multiple activities and allocate positivetime duration to each of the activities chosen.
Abstract