ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2014
A cross-sectional study of demographic, environmental and parental barriers to active school travel among children in the United States.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Associations between parental perceptions of neighbourhood environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: a systematic review including 149 studies.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- Parental barriers to active transport to school: a systematic review.International journal of public health · 2020Pooled it
- Cross-continental comparison of the association between the physical environment and active transportation in children: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2015Pooled it
- Objectively measured environmental factors in relation to school travel mode among adolescents: a decision tree analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Trial
- Evaluation of a walking school bus program: a cluster randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Trial
- A School-Based Randomized Controlled Trial to Promote Cycling to School in Adolescents: The PACO Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- A school-based physical activity promotion intervention in children: rationale and study protocol for the PREVIENE Project.BMC public health · 2017Trial
- Poor agreement between teacher perceived and objective measures of weather conditions for school-based physical activity research.Preventive medicine reports · 2026Article
- Understanding the synergies among factors shaping parents' intention to use walking school buses.Npj sustainable mobility and transport · 2026Article
- Active Commuting to School among Spanish Preschool Children: A Temporal Change Study between 2013 and 2017.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Perceived Safety Influencing Active Travel to School-A Built Environment Perspective.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Parental perspectives on the decision-making process on transport mode choice in adolescents: a qualitative study with mothers and fathers.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Gender-specific social and environmental correlates of active travel to school in four European countries: the HBSC Study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Children's Access to Non-School Destinations by Active or Independent Travel: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Active living environments mediate rural and non-rural differences in physical activity, active transportation, and screen time among adolescents.Preventive medicine reports · 2021Article
- Implementation contextual factors related to community-based active travel to school interventions: a mixed methods interview study.Implementation science communications · 2021Article
- Children's Active School Travel: Examining the Combined Perceived and Objective Built-Environment Factors from Space Syntax.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Reported Neighborhood Traffic and the Odds of Asthma/Asthma-Like Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of a Multi-Racial Cohort of Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Sociodemographic and Built Environment Associates of Travel to School by Car among New Zealand Adolescents: Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- A GIS-Based Method for Analysing the Association Between School-Built Environment and Home-School Route Measures with Active Commuting to School in Urban Children and Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPromoting daily routine physical activities, such as active travel to school, may have important health implications. Practitioners and policy makers must understand the variety of factors that influence whether or not a child uses active school travel. Several reviews have identified both inhibitors and promoters of active school travel, but few studies have combined these putative characteristics in one analysis. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between elementary school children's active school travel and variables hypothesized as correlates (demographics, physical environment, perceived barriers and norms).
methodsThe current project uses the dataset from the National Evaluation of Walk to School (WTS) Project, which includes data from 4th and 5th grade children and their parents from 18 schools across the US. Measures included monthly child report of mode of school travel during the previous week (n = 10,809) and perceived barriers and social norms around active school travel by parents (n = 1,007) and children (n = 1,219). Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) with log-link functions were used to assess bivariate and multivariate associations between hypothesized correlates and frequency of active school travel, assuming random school effect and controlling for the distance to school.
resultsThe final model showed that the most relevant significant predictors of active school travel were parent's perceived barriers, specifically child resistance (Estimate = -0.438, p < 0.0001) and safety and weather (Estimate = -0.0245, p < 0.001), as well as the school's percentage of Hispanic students (Estimate = 0.0059, p < 0.001), after adjusting for distance and including time within school cluster as a random effect.
conclusionsParental concerns may be impacting children's use of active school travel, and therefore, future interventions to promote active school travel should more actively engage parents and address these concerns. Programs like the Walk to School program, which are organized by the schools and can engage community resources such as public safety officials, could help overcome many of these perceived barriers to active transport.
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