Look who's walking: Social and environmental correlates of children's walking in London

Abstract

A substantial literature examines the social and environmental correlates of walking to school but less addresses walking outside the school commute. Using travel diary data from London, we examined social and environmental correlates of walking: to school; outside the school commute during term time; and during the summer and weekends. Living in a household without a car was associated with all journey types; ‘Asian’ ethnicity was negatively associated with walking for non-school travel; environmental factors were associated with non-school journeys, but not the school commute. Interventions aiming to increase children's active travel need to take account of the range of journeys they make.