Patterns of children’s travel to school, their body weight, spatial factors, and perceptions: A survey on nine European cities

Abstract

Abstract:Increasing rates of body weight of children has become a motivation for investigating active transportation to school during the past years. Lack of proper data covering different geographical contexts is a problem seen in the literature of this subject. The present paper reports the findings of a recent survey on nine cities in seven European countries funded by the European Commission. The objective of the survey was to provide data covering several topics in relation with active commuting to school and body mass index, such as parental perceptions of safety and security, neighborhood facilities, land use characteristics, etc. in different regions of Europe in a way that cross-sectional comparisons between regions and city sizes is facilitated. For that, 2735 children/parents were handed out questionnaires, from whom 1424 filled out the questionnaires (response rate: 52%). This led to 1304 validated questionnaires. The respondents studied in 21 elementary schools of Foggia, Italy; Berlin, Germany; Thessaloniki, Greece; Rijeka, Croatia; Utrecht, The Netherlands; Łódź, Poland; Konstantynow, Poland; Malatya, Turkey, and Doğanşehir, Turkey as of March 2016 until January 2017. The survey instrument enables development of continuous and categorical variables for empirical research with strong focus on the built environment using the aggregate data provided by this study. It is expected that the output data eases production of knowledge about less-studied European contexts as well as cross-sectional comparison of results with more studied areas of Western Europe.Key words: Active transport to school, children's body weight, urban form, perceived built environment Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• The survey is done on nine cities in seven European countries located in different regions.• 2735 questionnaires were handed out, 1424 of which were filled out; 1304 were validated, providing response rate of 52.07%.• The preliminary and descriptive analysis of data shows cultural and geographical differences in mobility patterns of children, the perceptions, and the body weights.

Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents in Croatia: A Global Matrix 4.0 Systematic Review of Its Prevalence and Associated Personal, Social, Environmental, and Policy Factors

“…[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Of these, 18 studies were included in evidence synthesis. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]34,39,47,51,62,69,70,76,81,84,90,100 The stages of search and study selection process are summarized in Figure 1. From the additional internet searches, we selected examples of key national-and county-level physical activity policies, programs, and infrastructure (Supplementary Tables S4 and S5 [available online]).…”

“…In a study conducted among 211 parents of primary school students in Rijeka, 54.1% of participants were satisfied with the quality of sidewalks, but only 13.2% were satisfied with the quality of bike paths. 62 In the same study, 41.7% of parents perceived their child's routes to school, including sidewalks and bike lanes, safe for active commuting, while 54.5% of them reported that their children perceive the routes to school safe for active commuting. 62 Taking into account that: (1) all Croatian counties have policies/programs and infrastructure for the promotion of sports and physical activity, and (2) that most aspects of community and environmental support to physical activity were perceived positively by 40.0% to 60.0% of parents and children, the expert panel assigned the grade B− to this indicator.…”

Influencia del desplazamiento activo al colegio sobre la composición corporal y el rendimiento académico en escolares de 10-12 años (Influence of active commuting to school on body composition and academic achievement in schoolchildren aged 10-12 years)

“…Circunstancias socioeconómicas, ambientales y la percepción de los padres y madres de los escolares podrían explicar los resultados hallados en la presente investigación. Son varios los autores que encuentran relaciones significativas entre el desplazamiento activo y las percepciones de los padres y madres, concluyendo que los escolares se transportan de forma menos activa cuando existe la preocupación por características del entorno como el exceso de tráfico, la adaptabilidad del recorrido para el peatón o ciclista, el alumbrado, las aceras o el entorno socioeconómico del barrio (Aarts, Mathijssen, van Oers, & Schuit, 2013;Huertas-Delgado et al, 2017;Kerr et al, 2006;Masoumi et al, 2017;Molina-García & Queralt, 2017;Oluyomi et al, 2014;Panter, Jones, van Sluijs, & Griffin, 2010;Timperio et al, 2006). Otro aspecto a considerar es la distancia y la pendiente del recorrido, ya que las rutas menores a 800 metros o con poca inclinación se asocian con un mayor desplazamiento activo (Timperio et al, 2006).…”

Active Schools in Europe—A Review of Empirical Findings

“…However, those students who travel longer distances accrue more significant amounts of PA and health benefits [82]. The physical environment in which students live impacts their travel patterns [83,84]. Community density, diversity, and design have consistently been linked with personal travel behavior and are considered the most influential built environment factors in active travel [85].…”