Active commuting to school: an overlooked source of childrens' physical activity?
- PMID: 11347681
- DOI: 10.2165/00007256-200131050-00001
Active commuting to school: an overlooked source of childrens' physical activity?
Abstract
The assessment and promotion of childrens' healthful physical activity is important: (i) to combat the international obesity epidemic that extends to childhood; and (ii) to establish an early habit of lifestyle physical activity that can be sustained into adolescence and adulthood. The primary focus of both assessment and promotion efforts has been on in-school physical education classes and, to a lesser extent, out-of-school structured exercise, sport and play. A potential source of continuous moderate activity, active commuting to school by means of walking or by bicycle, has been largely ignored in surveys of physical activity. Suggestive evidence of steep declines in the amount of childrens' destination walking can be gleaned from national transportation surveys. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the reported use of motorised vehicles, including the use for chauffeuring children. There is very little evidence to support or refute active commuting to school as an important source of childrens' physical activity; however, this is largely because it has been overlooked in the stampede to assess time in more vigorous activities. The promotion of active commuting to school must be considered in the context of parents' real and perceived concerns for their children's personal and pedestrian safety. We certainly do not have a full understanding at this time of all the factors related to decisions about transportation mode, whether by child, parent, community, or school. Such information is necessary if successful and sustainable interventions can be implemented, important transport policy decisions can be made, and community and school designs can be modified. Practice rarely waits for research, however, and there are numerous examples of innovative programming, policies and environmental designs occurring internationally that can serve as natural experiments for enterprising researchers willing to push the envelope of our understanding of active commuting and childrens' physical activity. Since we know so little, there is much to learn.
Similar articles
-
Omission of active commuting to school and the prevalence of children's health-related physical activity levels: the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study.Child Care Health Dev. 2002 Nov;28(6):507-12. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2214.2002.00295.x. Child Care Health Dev. 2002. PMID: 12568480
-
Children's active commuting to school: current knowledge and future directions.Prev Chronic Dis. 2008 Jul;5(3):A100. Epub 2008 Jun 15. Prev Chronic Dis. 2008. PMID: 18558018 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Children's active commuting to school: an interplay of self-efficacy, social economic disadvantage, and environmental characteristics.Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015 Feb 28;12:29. doi: 10.1186/s12966-015-0190-8. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015. PMID: 25889664 Free PMC article.
-
Systematic review of active commuting to school and childrens physical activity and weight.J Phys Act Health. 2008 Nov;5(6):930-49. doi: 10.1123/jpah.5.6.930. J Phys Act Health. 2008. PMID: 19164826 Review.
-
Social-ecological correlates of active commuting to school among high school students.J Adolesc Health. 2008 May;42(5):486-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.10.006. Epub 2007 Dec 26. J Adolesc Health. 2008. PMID: 18407044
Cited by
-
Active School Commuting in School Children: A Narrative Review of Current Evidence and Future Research Implications.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Oct 16;20(20):6929. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20206929. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023. PMID: 37887667 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Validating the Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers-Parent (PASTEB-P) Questionnaire to Support Intervention Programming and Research.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 May 19;20(10):5874. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20105874. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023. PMID: 37239600 Free PMC article.
-
Active travel to school: a longitudinal millennium cohort study of schooling outcomes.BMJ Open. 2023 Mar 23;13(3):e068388. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068388. BMJ Open. 2023. PMID: 36958774 Free PMC article.
-
Barriers to and facilitators of active travel from the youth perspective: A qualitative meta-synthesis.SSM Popul Health. 2023 Feb 26;22:101369. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101369. eCollection 2023 Jun. SSM Popul Health. 2023. PMID: 36909930 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract available.
-
Active Commuting and Healthy Behavior among Adolescents in Neighborhoods with Varying Socioeconomic Status: The NESLA Study.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 22;19(7):3784. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19073784. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. PMID: 35409464 Free PMC article.
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical