Parental perceptions of barriers to active commuting to school in Spanish children and adolescents

Abstract

: Understanding parental barriers is crucial to promote active commuting to school since the parental perceptions influence how young people commute. This study examined parental barriers to active commuting to school among Spanish children and adolescents, and their association with their gender and the usual mode of commuting. Parents of children ( n = 628) and parents of adolescents ( n = 151) from Granada (Spain) completed a paper-based questionnaire about perceived parental barriers to active commuting to school and mode of commuting. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test. Among Spanish parents, the most common barriers reported by parents of children were traffic volume and dangerous intersections, whereas the most frequent barriers reported by parents of adolescents were distance to school and dangerous intersections. Compared to parents of children, a greater proportion of parents of adolescents reported distance to school and crime and smaller proportion reported traffic volume as barriers to active commuting to school. Among parents of children, crime was a more commonly reported as a barrier by parents of girls. Although some barriers reported by parents of passive commuters were similar for children and adolescents (such as distance to school and absence of a policeman at crosswalks), other barriers were specific to parents of children. The main parental barriers to active commuting in children were traffic volume and dangerous intersections whereas for adolescents were distance and dangerous intersections. Among Spanish parents, parental barriers to active commuting are influenced by children's age, gender and mode of commuting to school.

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

“…It seems that children active travels to/from school were influenced by other environmental factors such as traffic safety, among others, which may move them away from more direct routes (i.e., usually with high levels of traffic, air pollution and noise). This influence is in line with other previous studies (e.g., [17][18][19]63]). In addition, the recent study of Egli et al (2019) [70] found that children who actively travel to school are aware of traffic safety, air pollution and prefer commuting with friends and/or family members to socialize.…”

“…Considering these factors, observed rates of ACS were higher in children than in adolescents [14], and in those of lower versus (vs.) higher socio-economic status [15,16]. Likewise, among others, parental concerns regarding personal and traffic safety [17,18], as well as safety perceptions of walking routes [19] also influence how young people travel to/from school.…”

“…The influence of these environmental dimensions and measures also depends on whether children or adolescents are studied, in addition to the type of built environment. For example, Huertas-Delgado et al (2017) [18] reported barriers evidence of Spanish parents on traffic volume for children and distance to school for adolescents. Dangerous intersections and crime were reported as barriers for both age subgroups.…”

“…The greater the number of shorter and a priori more direct routes (i.e., less home-school distance) the higher the ACS level. Apart from route measures, ACS may also depend on other factors such as traffic level [17][18][19], which will be discussed regarding these measures. Dill's research (2004) [43] gathered international evidence on the use of the PRD measure to show how direct/indirect are certain origin-destination routes.…”

Adolescents and their aspirations for private car-based transport

“…The survey participants reported family members as important motivators for learning to drive behaviours and attitudes. Previous research has shown that parents are 'critical gatekeepers' in the mobility decisions for children and adolescents (Kerr et al 2006;Lorenc et al 2008), particularly relating to active transport to school decisions (Hopkins and Mandic 2017;Huertas Delgado et al 2017;Aibar et al 2018), and learn to drive behaviours (Hopkins 2016). As such, mobility practices of adolescents need to be understood in the context of family pressures, relationships and interactions.…”