Active transportation and acculturation among Latino children in San Diego County.
OBJECTIVE
To examine multiple measures of acculturation and their association with walking to school in a large population-based sample in San Diego, California.


METHODS
The sample consisted of predominantly Latino children and their parents (n=812) who participated in a study to maintain healthy weights from kindergarten through 2nd grade (2004-2007). Acculturation and walking/driving to and from school were assessed through parent-proxy surveys.


RESULTS
Children of foreign-born child-parent dyads walked to school more frequently than their counterparts (F=7.71, df=5, 732, p<.001). Similarly, parents who reported living in the U.S. for less than or equal to 12 years reported more walking to school by their children compared with parents living in the U.S. for more than 12 years (F=10.82, df=4, 737, p<.001). Finally, English-speaking females walked to school more frequently than Spanish-speaking and bilingual females.


CONCLUSIONS
This study explores Latino children's walking to and from school using four measures of acculturation. In this cross-sectional study, being less acculturated was associated with more walking to school among children living in South San Diego County.
Martinez
Suzanna M
SM
Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92123, USA. smartinez@projects.sdsu.edu
Ayala
Guadalupe X
GX
Arredondo
Elva M
EM
Finch
Brian
B
Elder
John
J
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D050177:Overweight / Q000517:prevention & control; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014186:Transportation; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult