12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries—Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study

Haug, Ellen; Smith, Otto Robert Frans; Bucksch, Jens; Brindley, Catherina; Pavelka, Jan; Hamrik, Zdenek; Inchley, Joanna; Roberts, Chris; Mathisen, Frida Kathrine Sofie; Sigmundová, Dagmar

doi:10.3390/ijerph18042118

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12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries—Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study

Ellen Haug

^1,2,*

Otto Robert Frans Smith

³,

⁴,

⁴

⁵

⁵,

⁶

⁷,

Frida Kathrine Sofie Mathisen

¹ and

Dagmar Sigmundová

⁸

Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway

Department of Teacher Education, NLA University College, 5012 Bergen, Norway

Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 5015 Bergen, Norway

⁴

Department of Prevention and Health Promotion, Faculty of Natural and Human Sciences, Heidelberg University of Education, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

⁵

Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, 77111 Olomouc, Czech Republic

⁶

MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G37 HR, UK

⁷

Social Research and Information Devision, Welsh Government, Cardiff CF10 3NQ, UK

⁸

Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, 77111 Olomouc, Czech Republic

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 2118; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042118

Received: 22 December 2020 / Revised: 13 February 2021 / Accepted: 16 February 2021 / Published: 22 February 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Commuting and Active Transportation)

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Abstract

Active school transport (AST) is a source of daily physical activity uptake. However, AST seems to have decreased worldwide over recent decades. We aimed to examine recent trends in AST and associations with gender, age, family affluence, and time to school, using data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in the Czech Republic, Norway, Scotland, and Wales. Data from 88,212 students (11, 13 and 15 years old) revealed stable patterns of AST from 2006 to 2018, apart from a decrease in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2010. For survey waves combined, walking to and from school was most common in the Czech Republic (55%) and least common in Wales (30%). Cycling was only common in Norway (22%). AST differed by gender (Scotland and Wales), by age (Norway), and by family affluence (everywhere but Norway). In the Czech Republic, family affluence was associated with change over time in AST, and the effect of travel time on AST was stronger. The findings indicate that the decrease in AST could be levelling off in the countries considered here. Differential associations with sociodemographic factors and travel time should be considered in the development of strategies for AST. View Full-Text

Keywords: active school transport; trends; cross-national; HBSC; gender; age; SES

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Haug, E.; Smith, O.R.F.; Bucksch, J.; Brindley, C.; Pavelka, J.; Hamrik, Z.; Inchley, J.; Roberts, C.; Mathisen, F.K.S.; Sigmundová, D. 12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries—Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 2118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042118

AMA Style

Haug E, Smith ORF, Bucksch J, Brindley C, Pavelka J, Hamrik Z, Inchley J, Roberts C, Mathisen FKS, Sigmundová D. 12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries—Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(4):2118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042118

Chicago/Turabian Style

Haug, Ellen, Otto Robert Frans Smith, Jens Bucksch, Catherina Brindley, Jan Pavelka, Zdenek Hamrik, Joanna Inchley, Chris Roberts, Frida Kathrine Sofie Mathisen, and Dagmar Sigmundová. 2021. "12-Year Trends in Active School Transport across Four European Countries—Findings from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 4: 2118. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042118

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