Psychosocial and Environmental Correlates of Walking, Cycling, Public Transport and Passive Transport to Various Destinations in Flemish Older Adolescents

Abstract

BackgroundActive transport is a convenient way to incorporate physical activity in adolescents’ daily life. The present study aimed to investigate which psychosocial and environmental factors are associated with walking, cycling, public transport (train, tram, bus, metro) and passive transport (car, motorcycle, moped) over short distances (maximum eight kilometres) among older adolescents (17–18 years), to school and to other destinations.Methods562 older adolescents completed an online questionnaire assessing socio-demographic variables, psychosocial variables, environmental variables and transport to school/other destinations. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were performed.ResultsMore social modelling and a higher residential density were positively associated with walking to school and walking to other destinations, respectively. Regarding cycling, higher self-efficacy and a higher social norm were positively associated with cycling to school and to other destinations. Regarding public transport, a higher social norm, more social modelling of siblings and/or friends, more social support and a higher land use mix access were positively related to public transport to school and to other destinations, whereas a greater distance to school only related positively to public transport to school. Regarding passive transport, more social support and more perceived benefits were positively associated with passive transport to school and to other destinations. Perceiving less walking and cycling facilities at school was positively related to passive transport to school only, and more social modelling was positively related to passive transport to other destinations.ConclusionsOverall, psychosocial variables seemed to be more important than environmental variables across the four transport modes. Social norm, social modelling and social support were the most consistent psychosocial factors which indicates that it is important to target both older adolescents and their social environment in interventions promoting active transport. Walking or cycling together with siblings or friends has the potential to increase social norm, social modelling and social support towards active transport.

A Smartphone App to Promote an Active Lifestyle in Lower-Educated Working Young Adults: Development, Usability, Acceptability, and Feasibility Study

“…Step 1: Selecting Determinants From the existing literature, self-efficacy has been shown to be one of the most important determinants of PA [41][42][43] and AT [44][45][46] among (young) adults. Social support was positively associated with PA and AT in adolescents [42] and young adults [4,47].…”

“…The selection was based on the existing literature, previous studies from our research group, a theoretical health behavior change model, and an exploratory qualitative study among lower-educated working young adults (see Results step 1 [4,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]). …”

Promoting Active Transport in Older Adolescents Before They Obtain Their Driving Licence: A Matched Control Intervention Study

“…Designing a theory- and evidence-based intervention to promote active transport requires a comprehensive understanding of the correlates of active transport [30]. Therefore, firstly, a qualitative and quantitative study was conducted prior to the development of the intervention [31, 32]. Within these studies, factors related to active, public and passive transport among older adolescents were investigated.…”

Psycho-social attributes and quality of life: Overview and pilot study of commuters’ travel behaviour

“…• Feelings of power A study done by Verhoeven et al [21] shows that psychosocial variables seemed to be more important than environmental variables where social norm, social modelling and social support are the most consistent psychosocial. Simons, De Bourdeaudhuij, Clarys,De Cocker , de Geus, Vandelanotte [21] adopt Attitude-Social influence-self-Efficacy (ASE) model to measure the travel behavior of working adults in Belgium focusing psycho-social attributes such as self-efficacy, social norm, modeling, social support, perceived benefits and perceived barriers.…”

“…• Feelings of power A study done by Verhoeven et al [21] shows that psychosocial variables seemed to be more important than environmental variables where social norm, social modelling and social support are the most consistent psychosocial. Simons, De Bourdeaudhuij, Clarys,De Cocker , de Geus, Vandelanotte [21] adopt Attitude-Social influence-self-Efficacy (ASE) model to measure the travel behavior of working adults in Belgium focusing psycho-social attributes such as self-efficacy, social norm, modeling, social support, perceived benefits and perceived barriers. Meanwhile, Bourdeaudui, Teixeira, Cardon and Deforche [22] employs social variables, self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived barriers as psychosocial variables in their study on adults in Portugal and Belgium towards their perception of active public transport modes such as cycling and walking.…”