Key takeaway:
- Children who used active transportation to travel to school at a young age were more likely to continue to do so as they got older. Children who did not use active transportation to travel to school were not likely to take up the habit as they got older.
- For every one-tenth of a mile increase of distance from home to school a child’s likelihood of using active transportation to travel to school decreased by eight percent.
- Students within the study area who used active transportation to travel to school at a young age were more likely to continue to use active transportation despite an increase in distance from home to school as they got older.
- The likelihood of children using active transportation to school was almost twice as high if the parent perceived their neighborhood as safe compared to if it was perceived as unsafe.
Implications:
- Safe Routes to School programs can support young children to develop the life-long habit of walking or bicycling early on through education and encouragement programs that make biking and walking fun and normal, everyday activity. Developing this habit early in life can also help to overcome the challenge of distance as they get older.
Methods:
- Two cohorts of households with 3-15 year-olds in four low-income New Jersey cities were randomly sampled and followed for two to five-year periods between 2009 and 2017.
- Children who walked, bicycled, or skateboarded to/from school at least one day/week were classified as active commuters.
Citation:
DeWeese, Robin S., Francesco Acciai, David Tulloch, Kristen Lloyd, Michael J. Yedidia, and Punam
Ohri‐Vachaspati. “Active Commuting to School: A Longitudinal Analysis Examining Persistence of
Behavior over Time in Four New Jersey Cities.” Preventive Medicine Reports 26 (April 2022): 101718.
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