Active school commuting in adolescents from 28 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia: a temporal trends study

Abstract

Background Evidence examining trends in active school commuting among adolescents are mainly single-country studies, and principally focused on high-income countries. Thus, the present study aims to examine temporal trends in adolescents’ active school commuting and to examine if there are differences in such trends by sex. We used nationally representative samples of 28 countries, which were predominantly low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), covering 5 different WHO regions. Methods Data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey 2004–2017 were analyzed in 177,616 adolescents [mean (SD) age: 13.7 (1.0) years; 50.7% girls]. Active school commuting was self-reported (frequency of walking or riding a bike to and from school in the past 7 days). The prevalence and 95%CI of active school commuting (i.e., ≥ 3 days/week) was calculated for the overall sample and by sex for each survey. Crude linear trends in active school commuting were assessed by linear regression models. Interaction analyses were conducted to examine differing trends among boys and girls. Results Trends in active school commuting were heterogeneous across countries, with results showing stable patterns for the majority (16/28), decreasing trends for some (7/28) and increasing trends over time for a few (5/28). The majority of countries showed no differences in active school commuting trends between girls and boys. Conclusions The quantification of changes in adolescents’ active school commuting over time, together with a deeper understanding of local determinants for such behaviors will provide valuable evidence to inform the development of tailored and context-specific actions.

Assessment of Sustainable Mobility Patterns of University Students: Case of Cameroon

“…Recognizing the necessity for sustainable transportation solutions for students, research into the commuting behaviors of university students has been gaining interest, including both high-income countries (HICs) [3,[6][7][8][9]] and low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) [10][11][12][13]. A recent investigation involving 28 LMICs, which examined adolescent active travel to schools, identified considerable diversity and heterogeneity among the LMICs studied, highlighting the need for context-specific research within these countries.…”

Assessment of Sustainable Mobility Patterns of University Students and Staff: Case of a LMIC

“…In general, the mobility patterns of students commuting to universities are often not thoroughly studied. While there is some research on this topic for High-Income Countries (HICs) [3,[5][6][7][8] it remains under-researched for Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), with only a few studies identified [9,10]. The most recent research, which covered 28 LMICs, focused on adolescent active travel to schools but did not explore public transport or the barriers and factors affecting sustainable transport [10].…”

“…While there is some research on this topic for High-Income Countries (HICs) [3,[5][6][7][8] it remains under-researched for Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), with only a few studies identified [9,10]. The most recent research, which covered 28 LMICs, focused on adolescent active travel to schools but did not explore public transport or the barriers and factors affecting sustainable transport [10]. However, an interesting finding from this study is the high level of heterogeneity among LMICs, which underscores the need for context-specific research in LMICs.…”

Adolescent health-risk behaviours in Thailand: patterns from national cross-sectional school surveys conducted in 2008, 2015, and 2021

“…[17]. Globally, among school-adolescents, mixed trends were found for food insecurity in 14 countries [18], sedentary behaviour had stable trends in most countries [19], regarding current alcohol use adolescent surveys showed more likely decreasing than increasing trends in study countries [20]. While there was signi cant variation in the trends of being bullied among the studied countries, six and thirteen countries, respectively, showed a signi cant increasing and decreasing trend [21], most countries had stable trends with high prevalence of loneliness over time [22].…”