Transportation and Health Resource Hub - Children

Children’s transport built environments: a mixed methods study of associations between perceived and objective measures and relationship with parent license for independent mobility in Auckland, New Zealand

This mixed methods study investigates whether parent perceptions of the neighborhood environment align with objective measures of the neighborhood built environment, and how perceived and objective measures relate to parental preferences for children's independent mobility (supporting active travel and physical activity). Parental preferences for independent mobility was only associated with a need for safer places to cycle (positive) and objectively assessed cycling infrastructure (negative) in adjusted models. Overall, the study findings indicate the importance of safer traffic environments for children's independent mobility.

Associations of children’s active school travel with perceptions of the physical environment and characteristics of social environment: a systematic review

This study documents a systematic review of 37, English-only, published studies related to school-aged (5-13) and travel mode choice. The study extracted data, assess quality and evaluated the evidence presented using a vote-counting technique to document associations between school travel modes as well as social and sociodemographic characteristics. The authors found that active school travel was associated positively with safety, walkability and neighbourhood social interactions, and negatively with travel distance and car ownership. They did not find sufficient evidence for social characteristics.

Associations between the neighbourhood built environment and out of school physical activity and active travel: an examination from the Kids in the City study 

This study examined selected objectively-measured and child-specific built environment attributes in relation to proportion of out-of-school time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (%MVPA) and active travel in a group of ethnically and socio-economically diverse school-aged children in Auckland, New Zealand. The researchers found that the ratio of high speed to low speed roads and improved streetscape for active travel were related to %MVPA on weekdays only. Local destinations (particularly schools) along a safe street network may be important for encouraging children's activity.

An integrated conceptual model of environmental needs for New Zealand children’s active travel to school 

This study correlated data from New Zealand children, their parents, school representatives, and objectively-assessed environmental features to generate a model enabling how these variables interrelate with each other and active travel to school. It demonstrates the complexity of active travel to school and reinforces that increasing active travel modes needs multi-faceted approaches to be successful.