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Active commuting to school: How far is too far?

BACKGROUND: Walking and cycling to school provide a convenient opportunity to incorporate physical activity into an adolescent's daily routine. School proximity to residential homes has been identified as an important determinant of active commuting among children. The purpose of this study is...

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Autores principales: Nelson, Norah M, Foley, Eimear, O'Gorman, Donal J, Moyna, Niall M, Woods, Catherine B
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2268942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18182102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-5-1
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author Nelson, Norah M
Foley, Eimear
O'Gorman, Donal J
Moyna, Niall M
Woods, Catherine B
author_facet Nelson, Norah M
Foley, Eimear
O'Gorman, Donal J
Moyna, Niall M
Woods, Catherine B
author_sort Nelson, Norah M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Walking and cycling to school provide a convenient opportunity to incorporate physical activity into an adolescent's daily routine. School proximity to residential homes has been identified as an important determinant of active commuting among children. The purpose of this study is to identify if distance is a barrier to active commuting among adolescents, and if there is a criterion distance above which adolescents choose not to walk or cycle. METHODS: Data was collected in 2003–05 from a cross-sectional cohort of 15–17 yr old adolescents in 61 post primary schools in Ireland. Participants self-reported distance, mode of transport to school and barriers to active commuting. Trained researchers took physical measurements of height and weight. The relation between mode of transport, gender and population density was examined. Distance was entered into a bivariate logistic regression model to predict mode choice, controlling for gender, population density socio-economic status and school clusters. RESULTS: Of the 4013 adolescents who participated (48.1% female, mean age 16.02 ± 0.661), one third walked or cycled to school. A higher proportion of males than females commuted actively (41.0 vs. 33.8%, χ(2 )(1) = 22.21, p < 0.001, r = -0.074). Adolescents living in more densely populated areas had greater odds of active commuting than those in the most sparsely populated areas (χ(2 )(df = 3) = 839.64, p < 0.001). In each density category, active commuters travelled shorter distances to school. After controlling for gender and population density, a 1-mile increase in distance decreased the odds of active commuting by 71% (χ(2 )(df = 1) = 2591.86, p < 0.001). The majority of walkers lived within 1.5 miles and cyclists within 2.5 miles. Over 90% of adolescents who perceived distance as a barrier to active commuting lived further than 2.5 miles from school. CONCLUSION: Distance is an important perceived barrier to active commuting and a predictor of mode choice among adolescents. Distances within 2.5 miles are achievable for adolescent walkers and cyclists. Alternative strategies for increasing physical activity are required for individuals living outside of this criterion.
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spelling pubmed-22689422008-03-19 Active commuting to school: How far is too far? Nelson, Norah M Foley, Eimear O'Gorman, Donal J Moyna, Niall M Woods, Catherine B Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act Research BACKGROUND: Walking and cycling to school provide a convenient opportunity to incorporate physical activity into an adolescent's daily routine. School proximity to residential homes has been identified as an important determinant of active commuting among children. The purpose of this study is to identify if distance is a barrier to active commuting among adolescents, and if there is a criterion distance above which adolescents choose not to walk or cycle. METHODS: Data was collected in 2003–05 from a cross-sectional cohort of 15–17 yr old adolescents in 61 post primary schools in Ireland. Participants self-reported distance, mode of transport to school and barriers to active commuting. Trained researchers took physical measurements of height and weight. The relation between mode of transport, gender and population density was examined. Distance was entered into a bivariate logistic regression model to predict mode choice, controlling for gender, population density socio-economic status and school clusters. RESULTS: Of the 4013 adolescents who participated (48.1% female, mean age 16.02 ± 0.661), one third walked or cycled to school. A higher proportion of males than females commuted actively (41.0 vs. 33.8%, χ(2 )(1) = 22.21, p < 0.001, r = -0.074). Adolescents living in more densely populated areas had greater odds of active commuting than those in the most sparsely populated areas (χ(2 )(df = 3) = 839.64, p < 0.001). In each density category, active commuters travelled shorter distances to school. After controlling for gender and population density, a 1-mile increase in distance decreased the odds of active commuting by 71% (χ(2 )(df = 1) = 2591.86, p < 0.001). The majority of walkers lived within 1.5 miles and cyclists within 2.5 miles. Over 90% of adolescents who perceived distance as a barrier to active commuting lived further than 2.5 miles from school. CONCLUSION: Distance is an important perceived barrier to active commuting and a predictor of mode choice among adolescents. Distances within 2.5 miles are achievable for adolescent walkers and cyclists. Alternative strategies for increasing physical activity are required for individuals living outside of this criterion. BioMed Central 2008-01-08 /pmc/articles/PMC2268942/ /pubmed/18182102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-5-1 Text en Copyright © 2008 Nelson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Nelson, Norah M
Foley, Eimear
O'Gorman, Donal J
Moyna, Niall M
Woods, Catherine B
Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title_full Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title_fullStr Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title_full_unstemmed Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title_short Active commuting to school: How far is too far?
title_sort active commuting to school: how far is too far?
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2268942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18182102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-5-1
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