Abstract
BackgroundEmpirical evidence of the relationship between safety concerns and walking to school (WTS) is growing. However, current research offers limited understanding of the multiple domains of parental safety concerns and the specific mechanisms through which parents articulate safety concerns about WTS. A more detailed understanding is needed to inform environmental and policy interventions. This study examined the relationships between both traffic safety and personal safety concerns and WTS in the U.S.MethodsThis cross-sectional analysis examined data from the Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation (T-COPPE) project, an evaluation of state-wide obesity prevention policy interventions. All study data were from the survey (n = 830) of parents with 4th grade students attending 81 elementary schools across Texas, and living within two miles from their children's schools. Traffic safety and personal safety concerns were captured for the home neighborhood, en-route to school, and school environments. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the odds of WTS controlling for significant covariates.ResultsOverall, 18% of parents reported that their child walked to school on most days of the week. For traffic safety, students were more likely to walk to school if their parent reported favorable perceptions about the following items in the home neighborhood environment: higher sidewalk availability, well maintained sidewalks and safe road crossings. For the route to school, the odds of WTS were higher for those who reported "no problem" with each one of the following: traffic speed, amount of traffic, sidewalks/pathways, intersection/crossing safety, and crossing guards, when compared to those that reported "always a problem". For personal safety in the en-route to school environment, the odds of WTS were lower when parents reported concerns about: stray or dangerous animals and availability of others with whom to walk.ConclusionsFindings offered insights into the specific issues that drive safety concerns for elementary school children’s WTS behaviors. The observed associations between more favorable perceptions of safety and WTS provide further justification for practical intervention strategies to reduce WTS barriers that can potentially bring long-term physical activity and health benefits to school-aged children.
Highlights
Empirical evidence of the relationship between safety concerns and walking to school (WTS) is growing
To contribute to the growing yet limited body of literature on safety and WTS, we examined the relationships between WTS and specific measures of road and personal safety measures in a sample of U.S schoolchildren who were selected from elementary schools across Texas
In the exploratory analyses of study characteristics as covariates (Table 2), the following groups were more likely to have walked to school when compared to their counterparts, at the Bonferroni adjustment alpha level – p ≤ (0.05/×) – families that received any public assistance; students from families that owned no/one vehicle; students whose teachers encouraged active school commuting; and students whose parents reported that child’s school encouraged active commuting
Summary
Empirical evidence of the relationship between safety concerns and walking to school (WTS) is growing. This study examined the relationships between both traffic safety and personal safety concerns and WTS in the U.S. The emerging attention focused on walking to school (WTS), in industrialized countries, is grounded in the recognition of the importance of physical activity among children who are adopting increasingly sedentary lifestyles [1,2]. Despite its potential health benefits, rates of active commuting to school (e.g. walking and bicycling) have plummeted over the last four decades in the U.S In 2009, only 12.7% of elementary and middle school students walked or biked to school compared with 47.7% in 1969 [12] Several reasons for this sharp drop in active commuting to school (ACS) have been identified by parents with schoolaged children (5-18 years old), including distance (62%), traffic-related danger (30.4%), weather (18.6%), crime (11.7%), and school policy (6.0%) [13]. Environmental changes to alleviate safety barriers to WTS may be more readily implementable
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