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A longitudinal study of the distance that young people walk to school.


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Authors

Chillón, P 
Jones, AP 
Van Sluijs, EMF 

Abstract

Walking or cycling to school has been associated with important health benefits. Distance between home and school is the main correlate of active commuting to school, but how far children walk to school and how this changes as children age is unknown. Mode of commuting and objectively-assessed distance to school were measured at 3 time points: aged 9/10 years, 10/11 years and 13/14 years. Data were analysed using ROC-curve analyses. With age, children walked further to school; the threshold distance that best discriminated walkers from passive commuters was 1421 m in 10-year-olds, 1627 m in 11-year-olds and 3046 m in 14-year-olds. Future interventions should consider the distance that young people actually walk.

Description

Keywords

Adolescence, Children, Distance, Walking to school, Adolescent, Child, England, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Schools, Surveys and Questionnaires, Walking

Journal Title

Health Place

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1353-8292
1873-2054

Volume Title

31

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
TCC (None)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/6)
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/4)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/7)
Medical Research Council (G0501294)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
Medical Research Council (G0501294/1)
The SPEEDY study is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative (http://www.npri.org.uk), consisting of the following Funding Partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Department of Health; Diabetes UK; Economic and Social Research Council; Medical Research Council; Health and Social Care Research and Development Office for the Northern Ireland; Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health Directorates; Welsh Assembly Government and World Cancer Research Fund. This work was also supported by the Medical Research Council [Unit Programme numbers MC_UU_12015/7; MC_UU_12015/4] and the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. Jenna Panter is funded through a post-doctoral fellowship funded by the National Institute of Health Research. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR PHR programme or the Department of Health.