Socio-environmental factors associated with shifts in children's travel mode between 6 and 8 years

Journal article

Introduction: Active school travel (AST) is an important contributor to child health, yet levels are low and declining in Aotearoa New Zealand. There is a paucity of research exploring change in AST over the earliest school years, a key life stage for setting AST habits for lifelong health gain. We aimed to measure transport mode shifts between 6 and 8 years of age, and identify factors associated with mode shifts. Methods: We used data from the 6 and 8 year waves of the Growing Up in New Zealand Study, including 642 participants with AST measures at both times. Parents/caregivers were asked about their child's usual transport mode to/from school, perceptions about distance to school, school community cohesion, perceptions of their child at school, and a range of sociodemographic factors. At 8 years, children also self-reported perceptions of peer relationships and school. Factors associated with shifts from active to passive, and passive to active modes from 6 to 8 years were explored using stepwise logistic regression with backwards selection. Results: AST was low at both time points (37% at 6 years, 34% at 8 years). Overall, 12% moved from active to passive modes and 9% moved from passive to active modes. Higher odds of shifting to active travel modes at 8 years were found for boys, living closer to school, parent-reported importance of living close to school, and child-reported peer relationships/liking school at 8 years. Only one factor was associated with changing to passive modes; for each one unit increase in school community cohesion at 6 years, the odds of changing to passive modes versus remaining with active modes was 15%. Conclusion: Findings from this study highlight an urgent need for policy and practice to enable and encourage active travel modes for young children and their families

Authors: Smith, M; Cavadino, A; Zhang, Y; Fainu, HM; Zhao, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Journal of Transport & Health
• Volume: 36
• Pages: 101811-101811
• Article number: 101811
• Publication date: 2024-04-23
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jth.2024.101811
• EISSN: 2214-1405
• ISSN: 2214-1405
• Language: English
• Keywords: Demography; Psychology; Medicine; Developmental psychology; Perception; Aotearoa; Sociology; Logistic regression