Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Apr 15:7:28.
doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-7-28.

Trend in active transportation to school among Swiss school children and its associated factors: three cross-sectional surveys 1994, 2000 and 2005

Leticia Grize  1 , Bettina Bringolf-Isler, Eva Martin, Charlotte Braun-Fahrländer
Affiliations

Trend in active transportation to school among Swiss school children and its associated factors: three cross-sectional surveys 1994, 2000 and 2005

Leticia Grize et al. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. .

Abstract

Background: Giving the rising trend in childhood obesity in many countries including Switzerland, strategies to increase physical activity such as promoting active school travel are important. Yet, little is known about time trends of active commuting in Swiss schoolchildren and factors associated with changes in walking and biking to school.

Methods: Between 1994 and 2005, information about mobility behaviour of children aged 6-14 years was collected within three Swiss population based national travel behaviour surveys. Mode of transport to school was reported for 4244 children. Weighted multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess active school travel time trends and their influencing factors.

Results: More than 70% of Swiss children walked or biked to school. Nevertheless, the proportion of children biking to school decreased (p = 0.05, linear trend), predominately in urban areas, and motorized transportation increased since 1994 (p = 0.02). Distance to school did not change significantly over time but availability of bikes decreased (p < 0.001) and number of cars per household increased (p < 0.001). The association between survey year and bike use was significantly modified by living in an urban area (OR (95%CI): 1.0, 0.63 (0.44-0.90), 0.71 (0.49-1.03), respectively for 1994, 2000 and 2005) and by distance to school (OR (95%CI): 1.0, 0.65 (0.40-1.05), 0.50 (0.23-0.79) for the same years and for children who lived more than a mile away from school).

Conclusions: Programs to encourage safe biking and to limit car use as mode of transport to school are warranted to stop this trend.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Weighted prevalence of mode of transport to school according to survey year.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association between survey year and biking to school stratified by urbanisation and distance to school. Adj. OR = odds ratios adjusted for sex, age, nationality, language, cars at home, bike availability and for distance to school or region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Tudor-Locke C, Ainsworth BE, Popkin BM. Active commuting to school: an overlooked source of children's physical activity? Sports Med. 2001;31:309–313. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200131050-00001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cooper AR, Wedderkopp N, Wang H, Andersen LB, Froberg K, Page AS. Active travel to school and cardiovascular fitness in Danish children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006;38:1724–1731. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000229570.02037.1d. - DOI - PubMed
    1. van Sluijs EM, Fearne VA, Mattocks C, Riddoch C, Griffin SJ, Ness A. The contribution of active travel to children's physical activity levels: cross-sectional results from the ALSPAC study. Prev Med. 2009;48:519–524. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.03.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zimmermann MB, Hess SY, Hurrell RF. A national study of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 6-12 y-old Swiss children: body mass index, body-weight perceptions and goals. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2000;54:568–572. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601058. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sirard JR, Slater ME. Walking and Bicycling to School: A Review. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2008;2:372–396. doi: 10.1177/1559827608320127. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources