A cross-sectional study of demographic, environmental and parental barriers to active school travel among children in the United States

Abstract

BackgroundPromoting daily routine physical activities, such as active travel to school, may have important health implications. Practitioners and policy makers must understand the variety of factors that influence whether or not a child uses active school travel. Several reviews have identified both inhibitors and promoters of active school travel, but few studies have combined these putative characteristics in one analysis. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between elementary school children’s active school travel and variables hypothesized as correlates (demographics, physical environment, perceived barriers and norms).MethodsThe current project uses the dataset from the National Evaluation of Walk to School (WTS) Project, which includes data from 4th and 5th grade children and their parents from 18 schools across the US. Measures included monthly child report of mode of school travel during the previous week (n = 10,809) and perceived barriers and social norms around active school travel by parents (n = 1,007) and children (n = 1,219). Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) with log-link functions were used to assess bivariate and multivariate associations between hypothesized correlates and frequency of active school travel, assuming random school effect and controlling for the distance to school.ResultsThe final model showed that the most relevant significant predictors of active school travel were parent’s perceived barriers, specifically child resistance (Estimate = −0.438, p < 0.0001) and safety and weather (Estimate = −0.0245, p < 0.001), as well as the school’s percentage of Hispanic students (Estimate = 0.0059, p < 0.001), after adjusting for distance and including time within school cluster as a random effect.ConclusionsParental concerns may be impacting children’s use of active school travel, and therefore, future interventions to promote active school travel should more actively engage parents and address these concerns. Programs like the Walk to School program, which are organized by the schools and can engage community resources such as public safety officials, could help overcome many of these perceived barriers to active transport.

Longitudinal associations between weather, season, and mode of commuting to school among Spanish youths

“…Regarding the effect of weather conditions and season on the usual mode of commuting to school, our results suggest some deviation from usual behavior as previous studies showed . Children who reported being usually passive were more likely to become active commuters in spring.…”

“…These differences might be explained because children have less say on their mode of commuting than adolescents . Children's mode of commuting to and from school is usually a parental decision, and parents’ perceptions are a strong determinant on their children's mode of commuting . Other determinants such as distance, safety or neighborhood attributes might be more important than weather conditions in that choice.…”

“…Regarding the effect of weather conditions and season on the usual mode of commuting to school, our results suggest some deviation from usual behavior as previous studies showed. 13,33 Children who reported being usually passive were more likely to become active commuters in spring. On the other hand, adolescents who reported being usually passive were more likely to become active commuters with higher mean temperature, higher mean wind speed and in autumn, compared with winter.…”

“…[9][10][11] Therefore, it is important to identify which factors facilitate and act as barriers to ACS. In terms of environmental barriers, distance between home and school is a key factor, [12][13][14] but weather conditions have also been associated with travel mode choice. 13,15 Parental perception of the weather has been found to inhibit ACS 16 in the United States, and a study of Belgian adolescents reported a preference for motorized transport in wet weather.…”

“…In terms of environmental barriers, distance between home and school is a key factor, [12][13][14] but weather conditions have also been associated with travel mode choice. 13,15 Parental perception of the weather has been found to inhibit ACS 16 in the United States, and a study of Belgian adolescents reported a preference for motorized transport in wet weather. 17 Findings from the few quantitative studies that have explored associations between weather conditions and ACS are equivocal.…”