Research article
Walking and Cycling to School: Predictors of Increases Among Children and Adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2008.10.011Get rights and content

Background

Little is known about what happens to active commuting as children get older, and less is known about influences on changes in this behavior. This study examined predictors of increases in children's and adolescents' active commuting (walking or cycling) to/from school over a 2-year period.

Methods

Participants were initially recruited and assessed in 2001. Follow-up data were collected in 2004 and 2006 and analyzed in 2008. Participants were 121 children (aged 9.1±0.34 years in 2004) and 188 adolescents (aged 14.5±0.65 years in 2004) from Melbourne, Australia. Parents and adolescents reported their perceptions of individual-level factors and of the neighborhood social and physical environment. Weekly active commuting (walking or cycling) to/from school, ranging from 0 to 10 trips/week was also proxy- or self-reported at the initial measurement and again 2 years later. Logistic regression analyses examined predictors of increases in active commuting over time.

Results

Children whose parents knew many people in their neighborhood were more likely to increase their active commuting (OR=2.6; CI=1.2, 5.9; p=0.02) compared with other children. Adolescents whose parents perceived there to be insufficient traffic lights and pedestrian crossings in their neighborhood were less likely to increase their active commuting over 2 years (OR=0.4; CI=0.2, 0.8; p=0.01), whereas adolescents of parents who were satisfied with the number of pedestrian crossings were more likely to increase their active commuting (OR=2.4; CI=1.1, 5.4; p=0.03) compared with other adolescents.

Conclusions

Social factors and physical environmental characteristics were the most important predictors of active commuting in children and adolescents, respectively.

Introduction

Physical activity during childhood may protect against chronic disease later in life.1 Risk factors for cardiovascular disease and obesity begin in childhood and track through to adolescence.2 Therefore, the promotion of physical activity in youth is important. Walking or cycling to/from school (i.e., active commuting) can make an important contribution to children's overall physical activity levels, and children who walk/cycle to school are more physically active than those who are driven.3 However, in the past 2 decades, the proportion of Australian children walking to school daily has declined (from 37% in 1985 to 26% in 2001), and the proportion of children cycling to school has been reduced by half.4 Similar trends are seen in the U.S.5 and the United Kingdom.6

Although secular trends in active commuting are evident, little is known about active-commuting patterns as children age, and during transitions from early to late childhood through to adolescence. An understanding of these transitions is crucial for the development of appropriate interventions. Social–ecologic models have been used in cross-sectional studies examining influences on children's active commuting7 and physical activity.8 These models propose multiple levels of influence on behavior, including the individual (e.g., beliefs about physical activity); social factors (e.g., the perceptions and behaviors of siblings or other children and parents); and physical environmental factors (e.g., neighborhood design).

Although individual and proximal social influences (e.g., family factors) on physical activity have been investigated, no consistent influence of these factors has been identified. The lack of consistent correlates of this behavior, however, may be a result of the fact that few studies have specifically examined these factors in relation to children's active commuting to school.9 Environmental influences on youth physical activity have received considerable attention, with a recent review10 identifying 33 primarily cross-sectional studies on this topic. Access to destinations, recreational facilities, and public transport, and the presence of sidewalks and traffic lights/pedestrian crossings were positively associated with children's physical activity; transport-related factors (e.g., number of roads to cross, traffic density and speed), neighborhood crime, and area deprivation were inversely associated.10

Few studies have concurrently examined individual, social, and environmental factors related to active commuting to school. In two previous cross-sectional studies, physical and social neighborhood factors were associated with active commuting for both children7 and adolescents.11 However, the cross-sectional design of these studies means that inferences about causality cannot be drawn. Longitudinal studies of multiple levels of influence on changes in young people's active commuting are required to inform programs and policies seeking to promote active transport. Therefore, this study aimed to examine: (1) changes in children's and adolescents' walking and cycling to/from school over time; and (2) the individual, social, and environmental predictors of increases in children's and adolescents' walking and cycling to/from school.

Section snippets

Study Population

Study participants were families involved in the Children Living in Active Neighborhoods (CLAN) cohort study. Participants were initially recruited and assessed in 2001, and then assessed in follow-up phases in 2004 and 2006. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee; the Department of Education, Victoria; and the Victorian Catholic Education Office. Sampling methods have been described12 previously. Briefly, participants and their

Results

Sample characteristics are shown in Table 2. In 2004, younger children were aged 9.1 (±0.33) years, and adolescents were aged 14.5 (±0.62) years (47% boys). The distribution of individual, social, and environmental factors is shown in Table 1. Overall, the proportion of parents and adolescents agreeing with individual-level items was low. Most parents agreed with statements related to the neighborhood social environment, suggesting that they viewed it positively. Most parents also reported

Discussion

This study is among the first to prospectively examine predictors of increased active commuting to/from school among children and adolescents. Approximately 50% of children and adolescents actively commuted to school at all in 2004, and consistent with national data,4 approximately 25% of children actively commuted on a daily basis. On average, children and adolescents increased their active commuting by 1 and 0.6 trips/week, respectively, over the 2 years. Individual, social, and environmental

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