[Effect of precipitation and seasonal period on the patterns of commuting to school in children and adolescents from Granada].
BACKGROUND
Active commuting (walking or cycling) to school contributes to increase physical activity levels in young people. Meteorological conditions might have a remarkable influence on this behaviour.


OBJECTIVE
The aim is to study the impact of the rainfall and seasonality on the mode of commuting to primary school or secondary school in children and adolescents from Granada.


METHODS
A total of 384 students (166 children and 218 adolescents) between 8-18 years from 2 different schools (primary and secondary schools) of Granada took part in the research. Participants filled a questionnaire about their weekly pattern on the mode of commuting to school in the three seasons of the academic year. Data about the rainfall in those three weeks was obtained from the National Agency of Meteorology. The association between rainfall and seasonality with mode of commuting to school was studied by McNemar test.


RESULTS
No significant associations were spotted between the rainfall and the seasonality with mode of commuting in children and adolescents (p>0.05) except for: a) a positive effect of rainfall in the percentage of children who usually walked to school between a rainy day and a non-rainy day in spring (p=0.031) and b) a weak effect of the seasonality on the percentage of children and adolescents who usually walk between autumn and winter (45.8% and 37.5% walk to school) and between autumn and spring (59.7% and 56%) respectively (p=0.07).


CONCLUSIONS
The meteorological conditions do not seem to influence the mode of commuting to school in children and adolescents from Granada, which might indicate that this behavior keeps a constant pattern throughout the whole academic year.
Facultad Ciencias del Deporte, Departamento de Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Granada, Granada.. pchillon@ugr.es.
José Manuel
JM
Segura-Díaz
Facultad Ciencias del Deporte, Departamento de Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Granada, Granada. Grupo de investigación PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity", Granada. España.. pchillon@ugr.es.
Manuel
M
Herrador-Colmenero
Facultad Ciencias del Deporte, Departamento de Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Granada, Granada. Grupo de investigación PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity", Granada. España.. pchillon@ugr.es.
Borja
B
Martínez-Téllez
Facultad Ciencias del Deporte, Departamento de Educación Física y Deportiva, Universidad de Granada, Granada. Grupo de investigación PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity", Granada. España.. pchillon@ugr.es.
Palma
P
Chillón Garzón
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001642:Bicycling; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011891:Rain; D012574:Schools; D012621:Seasons; D013030:Spain; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014186:Transportation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016138:Walking