Frequency of Active Commuting To and From School and Parental Perceived Barriers To Active Commuting

Abstract

1356 By incorporating physical activity into the daily routine, children have the opportunity to increase physical activity without participating in organized sports or exercise. One possible avenue of physical activity among children is active commuting to and from school (AC: walking, biking, skating). However, many children are being driven to and from school daily (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1997). Healthy People 2010 objective 22–14 is to increase the proportion of walking trips made to and from school within one mile to 50%. PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of AC of 4th and 5th grade students and to identify barriers to everyday AC as reported by parents. METHODS: To assess frequency of AC, 320 children (age: 10.2 ± 0.7 years; BMI: 19.41 ± 3.65 kg/m−2) reported how they got to and from school for one week during five random months between September and April. In April, parents were sent home a questionnaire and asked to rank environmental perceived barriers that prevented their children from AC daily. Habitual physical activity was assessed each month using the Self-Administered Physical Activity Checklist (SAPAC) (Sallis, 1996). RESULTS: 52% of children living within one mile from school reporting AC to or from school at least once during the year. However, only 24% of these children met the Healthy People 2010 objective of AC 50% of the time. Children who regularly AC reported 19% more time in moderate physical activities, not including AC, compared to children who were regularly driven to school. The top three reported parental perceived barriers to AC to and from school were distance, busy streets, and weather. However, 33% of parents who reported distance as a major barrier actually lived within 0.5 miles of their child's school. This indicates that many children live close enough to school to AC but are not doing so and many children who AC do not AC frequently enough to meet the HP2010 recommendations. CONCLUSION: Because the stimulus of AC has the potential to increase children's daily physical activity and daily energy expenditure, future investigations are needed to determine the specific moderating effects of these parental perceived barriers to AC. Funding source: University of Nebraska at Kearney Research Services Council