Active Transport to School and School Neighbourhood Built Environment across Urbanisation Settings in Otago, New Zealand

Contribution of active commuting to and from school to device-measured physical activity levels in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the contribution of active commuting to and from school (ACS) to device-measured light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels in young people aged 6 to 18 years old, as well as, in both trip directions (i.e., home-school, school-home).

METHODS

This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement, and five different databases were used for the systematic search (PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTdiscuss, Cochrane Library, and National Transportation Library) using PECO strategy.

RESULTS

A total of 14 studies met all the eligibility criteria, which compile 7127 participants. The overall ACS weighted LPA was 19.55 min (95% CI: 3.84-35.26; I2  = 99.9%, p < 0.001) and 68.74 min (95% CI: 6.09-131.39; z = 2.15, p = 0.030) during the home-school and school-home trips, respectively. For MVPA, the overall ACS weighted MVPA was 8.98 min (95% CI: 5.33-12.62; I2  = 99.95%, p < 0.001) during the home-school trip and 20.07 min (95% CI: 13.62-26.53; I2  = 99.62%, p < 0.001) during the school-home trip.

CONCLUSION

ACS may contribute about 48% of the PA recommendations in young people on school days if both trip directions are actively performed. Therefore, future studies aimed at increasing daily PA levels in young population should focus on promoting students' ACS. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020162004A.

Psychosocial and environmental determinants of active transport to school in Austrian rural communities: a cross-sectional study among schoolchildren and their parents

Background

Active transport to school (ATS) is an effective health-promoting intervention to integrate physical activity into children’s everyday lives. While previous studies have examined environmental and behavioural determinants on ATS in urban areas, evidence on rural areas is rare.

Method

This study examined whether environmental and psychosocial characteristics are associated with ATS in two rural communities in Austria. Participants from four schools (two primary / two secondary schools) returned a self-reported questionnaire on individual and environmental determinants of ATS consisting of one section for parents and one for children, with 382 of the 467 total responses being included in the analysis.

Results

Bivariate analyses showed a significant association of psychosocial characteristics of parents and children (intention, attitude, social norm, perceived behavioural control: p < 0.001), one environmental item (walking and cycling network: p ≤ 0.001) as well as distance and duration for walking to/from school between ATS. In a multiple regression model, the chances of participating in ATS were higher among children who have higher perceived behavioural control, walk between 5 to 10 minutes to school, and whose parents have a higher commitment to ATS.

Conclusions

Future initiatives to enhance ATS in rural areas should focus on the control beliefs of parents and children, and should involve parents in order to increase parents’ commitment to ATS. Additionally, measures should explore the effects of active transport promotion in the context of public transport and school buses. Above all, further opportunities for ATS should be considered in spatial and community planning.

Objective and Perceived Traffic Safety for Children: A Systematic Literature Review of Traffic and Built Environment Characteristics Related to Safe Travel

The literature on children’s active transportation has shown the influence of the built environment characteristics on walking and crashes. Various reviews have examined those two questions. One influence on walking is the perception of traffic safety. However, it is not clear how, or even if, the built environment affects such perceptions. This research aims to understand which traffic and built environment characteristics influence objective and subjective/perceived traffic safety for children based on the analysis of previous studies in the field. Two types of research were used: the first examines the association between traffic and built environment characteristics and child pedestrian and/or cyclist collisions/injuries; the second relates to the perception of safety by parents and children for active transportation and, where studied, its relationship with built environment characteristics. A systematic review was conducted using five electronic databases. The total number of articles retrieved was reduced to 38 following the eligibility criteria and quality assessment, where 25 articles relate to injuries among children and 13 articles pertain to perception of safety. The results showed that high traffic volume and high vehicle speed are the main reasons children and parents feel unsafe when children use active travel, which matches the main findings on objective safety. Few articles on perception of safety related to the objective built environment were found. However, consistent findings exist. The presence of sidewalk was related to the safety of children. The presence of a crossing guard was positively related to perceived safety but was associated with higher rates of injuries among children. Intersection density was related to unsafe perceptions but was not statistically associated with objective traffic safety. Additionally, population density was found to be positively related to injuries among children, but not to perception of safety. The results help policy strategy to enhance the safety of children when using active transport modes.

School Bag-Related Factors and Their Implications for Walking and Cycling to School among New Zealand Adolescents

Excessive school bag weight may be a modifiable barrier to active transport to school. This study examined correlates of school bag weight and adolescents’ perceptions of excessive school bag weight for walking and cycling to school among New Zealand adolescents living in diverse settlement types. Adolescents (n = 1512; 15.0 ± 1.3 years) completed a questionnaire and had their bag weight (n = 1190) and body weight (n = 1038) measured. Adolescents using active transport and rural adolescents had lighter school bags compared to their counterparts. One-third of adolescents reported excessive school bag weight for walking (31.2%) and cycling (37.2%) to school. Positive correlates of relative school bag weight were female gender (regression coefficient (95% CI): 0.53 (0.13, 0.93)), and underweight (2.21 (1.39, 3.02)), whereas negative correlates were Māori ethnicity (−0.87 (−1.41, −0.32)), overweight (−1.84 (−2.35, −1.34)) and obesity (−3.57 (−4.26, −2.87)), and school location in small urban areas (−2.10 (−4.19, −0.01)), and rural settlements (−3.58 (−5.66, −1.49)). Older adolescents, females, those with greater relative school bag weight, and those experiencing school bag-related pain symptoms and/or fatigue were more likely to report excessive school bag weight for both walking and cycling to school. Future initiatives should target reducing excessive school bag weight, particularly in female and urban adolescents.

12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries-Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study

Active school transport (AST) is a source of daily physical activity uptake. However, AST seems to have decreased worldwide over recent decades. We aimed to examine recent trends in AST and associations with gender, age, family affluence, and time to school, using data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in the Czech Republic, Norway, Scotland, and Wales. Data from 88,212 students (11, 13 and 15 years old) revealed stable patterns of AST from 2006 to 2018, apart from a decrease in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2010. For survey waves combined, walking to and from school was most common in the Czech Republic (55%) and least common in Wales (30%). Cycling was only common in Norway (22%). AST differed by gender (Scotland and Wales), by age (Norway), and by family affluence (everywhere but Norway). In the Czech Republic, family affluence was associated with change over time in AST, and the effect of travel time on AST was stronger. The findings indicate that the decrease in AST could be levelling off in the countries considered here. Differential associations with sociodemographic factors and travel time should be considered in the development of strategies for AST.