Predictors of Children’s Active Commuting to School: an Observational Evaluation in Five US Communities

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Phys Act Health
• Personal Author:
  Mendoza, Jason A ; Cowan, David ; Liu, Yan
• Description:
  Background
  
  Few reports examined long term predictors of children’s active commuting to school (walking or cycling to school, ACS).
  
  Purpose
  
  To identify predictors of ACS over one school year among a sample of children with relatively high rates of ACS.
  
  Methods
  
  Parents were surveyed in September 2010 (Time 1) and April 2011 (Time 2). The dependent variable was children’s commuting mode to school (active versus passive). Independent variables included: 1) parents’ outcome expectations (from Social Cognitive Theory: the expected risks/benefits for their child doing ACS), 2) distance to school, 3) participation in an adult-led walk to school group, 4) temperature, and 5) child demographics. Generalized mixed-models estimated odds ratios for ACS (n=369 or 49.7% of Time 1 respondents).
  
  Results
  
  Males (OR=2.59, 95% CI [1.57–4.30]), adult-led walk to school group participation (OR=1.80, 95% CI [1.14–2.86]), parents’ outcome expectations (OR=1.26, 95% CI [1.14–1.39]), temperature (OR=1.03, 95% CI [1.01–1.07), distance to school (OR=0.23, 95% CI [0.14–0.37]), and Latino ethnicity (OR=0.28, 95% CI [0.12–0.65]) were associated with ACS.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Programs and policies sensitive to parents’ concerns, e.g. adult-led walk to school groups, and targeting Latinos and girls appear promising for increasing ACS.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Bicycling Child Ethnic Groups Female Humans Male Parents Psychological Theory Residence Characteristics Safety Schools Socioeconomic Factors Surveys And Questionnaires Transportation Walking Weather

  More +
• Source:
  J Phys Act Health. 11(4):729-733.
• Pubmed ID:
  23575275
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3749259
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K07 CA131178/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States ; 5U38HM000459/HM/NCHM CDC HHS/United States ; K07CA131178/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  11
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:b9db39278153d1bc0a7257a0919aa13d90c62e94f9b2dbc51b75e7f0c4fc8cc6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/29713/cdc_29713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 127.39 KB ]