Background:
Insufficient physical activity contributes to obesity and to risk of complications from chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. Physical inactivity is also associated with greatly increased costs for medical care and lost productivity. Evidence suggests that active commuting to school can contribute significantly to overall levels of physical activity among youth. Previous studies have not been able to examine the association of active commuting with sociodemographic and family characteristics such as household income, type of school attended, parental walking for transportation, and urbanicity of adolescents’ area of residence. In addition, previous studies have not included sufficient sample size to examine active commuting behaviors for racial and ethnic groups such as Latinos, Asians and American Indians.
Objectives:
This research examines individual sociodemographic, family and neighborhood characteristics associated with active commuting to school among adolescents using a population-based dataset that includes a number of sociodemographic and family characteristics not available in previous studies of active commuting.
Methods:
We used data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), a random-digit dial (RDD) telephone survey of 42,000 households drawn from every county in California. We analyzed responses from 3,451 adolescents age 12-17 who attend school outside of their home. Adolescent responses to two questions were used to assess whether adolescents actively commute to school one or more days per week: 1) how many days during a typical school week do you walk, bicycle or skateboard to school? 2) how many days during a typical school week do you walk, bicycle or skateboard home from school? Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the association of individual, family and neighborhood characteristics associated with commuting to or from school on one or more days. We included the following sociodemographic characteristics: age, gender, race/ethnicity (white, Latino, Asian, African American and American Indian), household income and type of school (public or private). Family characteristics included were parental walking for transportation, adult presence after school and parental knowledge of whereabouts after school. Neighborhood characteristics included were urbanicity and parental perceptions of general neighborhood safety.
Results:
After adjusting for the sociodemographic, family and neighborhood characteristics mentioned above, the present analyses showed that females were less likely to actively commute than males (OR=0.697, CI=0.567-0.856). African-American adolescents were not more likely than whites to actively commute, but Latino adolescents were more likely (OR=1.368, CI=1.033-1.812). In addition, adolescents with family incomes below 200% FPL were more likely to actively commute than those with higher incomes (OR=2.113, CI=1.647-2.711) and adolescents attending public school were more likely to actively commute than those attending private school (OR=1.763, CI=1.330-2.337).
Indicators of parental supervision were associated with active commuting. Adolescents who have an adult present after school some or none of the time were more likely to actively commute than those who have an adult present most of the time (OR=1.878, CI=1.377-2.561). In addition, adolescents whose parents know little or nothing about their whereabouts after school were more likely to actively commute than those whose parents know a lot (OR=1.718, CI=1.257-2.347). However, parental walking for transportation was not associated with adolescent active commuting. Adolescents living in urban areas were more likely than those in rural areas to walk or bike to school (OR=1.909, CI=1.450-2.514). Parental perceptions of general neighborhood safety were not associated with active commuting.
Conclusions:
Consistent with previous research, after adjusting for sociodemographic, family and neighborhood characteristics we found that females were less likely to actively commute than males, and that adolescents with an adult at home after school some or none of the time were more likely to actively commute than those with an adult at home most of the time. Unlike some previous research, African-American adolescents were not more likely than whites to walk or bike to school. In addition, Latino adolescents, adolescents from lower-income families, those attending public school, those whose parents know little about their whereabouts after school and those living in urban areas were more likely to walk or bike to school. The present results also indicated that parental walking for transportation was not associated with active commuting among adolescents nor were parental perceptions of general neighborhood safety. To our knowledge, no previous studies have included this range of sociodemographic and family characteristics in examining associations with active commuting among adolescents.
Support:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
