Adolescents’ School Travel and Unhealthy Snacking: Associations with School Transport Modes, Neighbourhood Deprivation, and Body Weight

Abstract

Active transport to and/or from school (ATS), alone or combined with motorised transport, provides an opportunity to increase adolescents’ physical activity levels to prevent obesity. However, travel through and exposure to an unhealthy food environment en route to school may have unintended consequences, specifically unhealthy snacking. This study examined the association between adolescents’ unhealthy snack food/soft drink purchases/consumption during the journey to and from school and their school transport modes, neighbourhood deprivation, and body weight. Adolescents (n = 660, age: 15.3 ± 1.3 years, 51.7% female) from 11 schools in the Otago region, New Zealand, completed an online survey and anthropometry. Data were analysed using χ2 test and logistic regression. Overall, 36.7% of adolescents purchased/consumed unhealthy snack foods and 25.9% purchased/consumed soft drinks at least once during their weekly school trips. ATS and mixed transport users reported more frequent unhealthy snack food/soft drinks purchases/consumption on the way to school than motorised transport users. Neighbourhood deprivation, but not body weight, was positively associated with unhealthy snack food/soft drink purchases/consumption during the school journey. Our findings highlight the importance of considering not only travel mode shift but also the obesogenic environment and unhealthy food/drinks purchases/consumption during adolescents’ school journeys, particularly in lower socio-economic areas, to prevent obesity.