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. 2020 Mar 18;17(6):2001.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17062001.

Active Travel of Czech and Polish Adolescents in Relation to Their Well-Being: Support for Physical Activity and Health

Karel Frömel  1   2 , Dorota Groffik  2 , Josef Mitáš  1 , Jan Dygrýn  1 , Petr Valach  3 , Michal Šafář  1
Affiliations

Active Travel of Czech and Polish Adolescents in Relation to Their Well-Being: Support for Physical Activity and Health

Karel Frömel et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The adoption of active travel (AT) habits in adolescence, supported by positive emotions, increases the chances of a lifelong positive attitude towards AT. The aim of this study was to assess the associations between active travel and well-being (WB), and to estimate the share of AT in weekly physical activity (PA) and its contribution to meeting the weekly PA recommendations in adolescents. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long form and the WHO-5 questionnaire were used to assess the level of AT, weekly PA and well-being of 2805 adolescents from 36 Czech and 39 Polish schools. A higher rate of AT is only significantly associated with higher well-being in girls. However, meeting AT recommendations in combination with higher WB increased the likelihood of meeting the weekly PA recommendations in both girls and boys. AT accounts for 22.5% of weekly PA of Czech (Polish 24.2%) boys. Concerning girls, it accounts for 24.9% of weekly PA in the Czech Republic and 24.5% in Poland. Meeting AT recommendations should be part of comprehensive school-based PA programs. State, school and municipal policies in the Central European region should pay more attention to the improvement of WB and the built environment for AT in secondary school adolescents.

Keywords: IPAQ—long; commuting; environment; recommendations; secondary schools.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rates of meeting the weekly physical activity (PA) recommendations (at least five times 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and at least three times 20 min of vigorous PA (VPA)) in Czech (CZ) and Polish (PL) girls and boys by level of well-being (WB) and meeting active travel recommendation (ATR) (at least five or more days per week for 30 or more minutes of active travel (AT)).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Odds ratios for meeting the weekly PA recommendation (five times 60 min of MVPA and concurrently three times 20 min of vigorous PA) in girls and boys according to compliance with the meeting of active travel recommendation along with greater well-being (YesATRandWB) or non-compliance with meeting the ATR and lower well-being (NoATRandWB). Notes: Model 1 = yes—meeting the active travel recommendation and high well-being; no—not meeting the active travel recommendation and low well-being; Model 2 = adjusted for age and BMI; Model 3 = adjusted further for country, city, house, ownership of dog, car, and cottage, and organized PA.
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