Child and adolescent patterns of commuting to school

The World Health Organization stipulate children and adolescents should accumulate 60 min of physical activity (PA) daily; globally only 25% achieve this. Active travel to school (ATS) is a method of integrating PA into daily life with a documented health benefit accruing. Understanding factors associated with ATS is essential to inform a systems approach to increase ATS participation. This study described patterns of commuting to school and examined factors associated with ATS. Children’s Sport Participation & Physical Activity Study 2018 data was used, an all-Ireland cross-sectional study of 6,650 students. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors independently associated with ATS. Most common commute to school methods were private car for primary (57%) and public transport for secondary (39%) students. The recommended 60 min of daily PA a week prior to the survey was achieved by 19.5% for primary and 12.6% for secondary students. Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationality (OR 1.09 95 %CI 1.02–1.16), meeting PA guidelines (OR 1.26 95 %CI 1.08–1.46), attending a ROI school (OR 2.27 95 %CI 2.02–2.57), attending a non-Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) school (OR 2.47 95 %CI 1.87–3.24), attending an urban school (OR 3.96 95 %CI 3.41–4.59) were each independently statistically significantly associated with ATS. Living in a family with a car (OR 0.27 95 %CI 0.19–0.39), attending secondary school (OR 0.69 95 %CI 0.62–0.78), attending a small sized (<33rd percentile) school (OR 0.68 95 %CI 0.60–0.77), living >5 km from school (OR 0.22 95 %CI 0.2–0.24) were each significantly negatively associated with ATS. ATS is a means of increasing youth PA and health. Factors associated with ATS can inform further research and intervention to increase ATS participation.