Preventive Medicine Reports (Dec 2023)
Child and adolescent patterns of commuting to school
Abstract
The World Health Organization stipulate children and adolescents should accumulate 60 min of physical activity (PA) daily; globally only 25% achieve this. Active travel to school (ATS) is a method of integrating PA into daily life with a documented health benefit accruing. Understanding factors associated with ATS is essential to inform a systems approach to increase ATS participation. This study described patterns of commuting to school and examined factors associated with ATS.Children’s Sport Participation & Physical Activity Study 2018 data was used, an all-Ireland cross-sectional study of 6,650 students. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors independently associated with ATS.Most common commute to school methods were private car for primary (57%) and public transport for secondary (39%) students. The recommended 60 min of daily PA a week prior to the survey was achieved by 19.5% for primary and 12.6% for secondary students. Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationality (OR 1.09 95 %CI 1.02–1.16), meeting PA guidelines (OR 1.26 95 %CI 1.08–1.46), attending a ROI school (OR 2.27 95 %CI 2.02–2.57), attending a non-Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) school (OR 2.47 95 %CI 1.87–3.24), attending an urban school (OR 3.96 95 %CI 3.41–4.59) were each independently statistically significantly associated with ATS. Living in a family with a car (OR 0.27 95 %CI 0.19–0.39), attending secondary school (OR 0.69 95 %CI 0.62–0.78), attending a small sized (5 km from school (OR 0.22 95 %CI 0.2–0.24) were each significantly negatively associated with ATS.ATS is a means of increasing youth PA and health. Factors associated with ATS can inform further research and intervention to increase ATS participation.
