Prevalence of children walking to school and related barriers—United States, 2017

Abstract

Children and adolescents can engage in an active lifestyle by walking to school; however, several barriers may limit this behavior. This study estimates the prevalence of walking to school and related barriers as reported by U.S. parents. Data from the 2017 SummerStyles, a Web-based survey conducted on a nationwide sample of U.S. adults, were analyzed in 2017. Parents of children aged 5–18 years (n = 1137) were asked whether their youngest child walked to or from school during a usual school week and what barriers make this difficult. Frequencies are presented overall and by parent characteristics. About 1 in 6 parents (16.5%) reported their youngest child walks to or from school at least once during a usual week. Prevalence differed by parental race/ethnicity, marital status, region, and distance from school. The most common barrier was living too far away (51.3%), followed by traffic-related danger (46.2%), weather (16.6%), “other” barrier (14.7%), crime (11.3%), and school policy (4.7%). The frequency at which parents reported certain barriers varied by their child's walking status, distance to school, age of youngest child, race/ethnicity, education level, household income, and metropolitan statistical area status. However, the relative ranking of barriers did not differ by these characteristics. Prevalence of walking to school is low in the U.S., and living too far away and traffic-related danger are common barriers reported by parents. Implementing Safe Routes to School programs and other initiatives that utilize strategies to overcome locally-relevant barriers could help increase the prevalence of children walking to school.