title: Parental factors in children's active transport to school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identify non-distance factors related to children's active transport (AT) to school, including parental, home, and environment characteristics. Understanding the factors related to children's AT to school, beyond distance to school, could inform interventions to increase AT and children's overall physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were in the Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study, a longitudinal, observational cohort study of children aged 6-11 and their parents in King County, WA and San Diego County, CA between 2007 and 2009. Parents reported frequency and mode of child transport to school, perceived neighbourhood, home and family environments, parental travel behaviours, and sociodemographics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children living less than a 20 minute walk to school were in this analysis. Children classified as active transporters (walked/bicycled to or from school at least once per week) were compared with those not using AT as often.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children using AT were older and had parents who reported themselves using active transport. Having a family rule that restricts the child to stay within sight of the parent or home and more parent working hours were related to lower odds of a child using AT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children's AT to school is associated with parental AT to work and other locations. Interventions should be considered that enable whole family AT, ameliorate safety concerns and decrease the need for parental supervision, such as walking school buses.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: hmhenne@uw.edu.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Henne
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: pooja@uw.edu.
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Electronic address: lawrence.frank@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: brian.saelens@seattlechildrens.org.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Saelens
mesh_terms: D001642:Bicycling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D004779:Environment Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012449:Safety; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D014186:Transportation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014861:Washington; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Childhood obesity; Family; Physical activity; Walking school bus