Getting to school on your own: the correlates of independence and modes of active school travel

Abstract

Young people’s decreased active and independent travel to schools has prompted many countries to devise various policies, initiatives, and programs to counter the associated health detriments. Meanwhile, scholarly studies have identified how children were walking and biking to school benefits physical and mental health, social and cognitive development, and local government finances. Contributing to the broader spectrum of academic research concerning active travel to school, this study explored independent and active school-travel correlates and analyzed the difference between walking and biking. Survey responses from 367 children in North Carolina indicated that walking was sensitive to mixed land use and positive utility while biking was more connected to physical settings. Perceived environmental safety influenced independent active travel, indicating the need for future programs and initiatives to take different actions when targeting modes and independence of active travel to school.

Keywords

• independent active travel to school
• neighborhood design
• mixed land use
• sidewalks
• positive utility
• subjective safety settings