Background

Active travel (AT), that is walking or biking for transport, is one way in which individuals can accumulate physical activity to benefit their physical and mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of AT to physical activity among college students.

Methods

Data were collected from students enrolled in general health and wellness courses at a large university in the northeast of the United States using an online survey distributed via email. Participants self-reported their demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, and residence location) as well as their physical activity using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Weekly metabolic equivalent minutes (weekly MET-minutes) were calculated for moderate physical activity (MPA), vigorous physical activity (VPA) and AT. Participants were categorized as moderately and highly physically active based on whether they met the criteria of ≥600 and ≥1500 weekly MET-minutes from MPA and VPA respectively both before and after adjusting for weekly AT MET-minutes.

Results

Analyses were conducted on 3714 students, who had a mean age of 21.0±1.5 years, and the majority of whom were women (57.8%), non-Hispanic white (77.2%), and resided off campus (79.5%). Adjusting for weekly AT MET-minutes resulted in a significant decrease in the number of students classified as moderately and highly physically active. Odds ratios revealed that sex, but not race, significantly predicted the likelihood of students no longer being both moderately and highly physically active after adjusting for AT. Women were more than 40% more likely to no longer meet both criteria compared to men after controlling for age, race, and residence location.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that AT contributes considerably to college students’ physical activity, particularly among women. Findings reinforce the importance of facilitating and promoting AT among college students and considering socio-demographic characteristics when making such efforts.

中文翻译：

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积极旅行对满足大学生体育锻炼建议的贡献

背景

主动出行（AT），即步行或骑自行车出行，是个人积累体力活动有益于身心健康的一种方式。这项研究的目的是检查大学生AT对体育锻炼的贡献。

方法

使用通过电子邮件分发的在线调查，从美国东北一所大型大学的一般健康与保健课程的就读学生中收集数据。参与者使用《全球体育锻炼问卷》自我报告其人口统计资料（年龄，性别，种族/民族和居住地）以及他们的体育锻炼。计算中等体力活动（MPA），剧烈体力活动（VPA）和AT的每周代谢当量分钟（每周MET分钟）。根据参与者在调整每周AT MET分钟之前和之后是否分别达到MPA和VPA≥MET 600≥1500分钟和≥1500 MET≥每周标准的标准，将其分为中度和高度运动。

结果

对3714名学生进行了分析，他们的平均年龄为21.0±1.5岁，其中大多数是女性（57.8％），非西班牙裔白人（77.2％），校外（79.5％）。调整每周AT MET分钟数会导致被分类为中度和高度运动的学生人数显着减少。赔率显示，性别（而非种族）显着预测了调整了AT后学生不再适度和高度运动的可能性。在控制了年龄，种族和居住地点之后，与男性相比，女性不再符合这两个标准的可能性要高40％以上。

结论

研究结果表明，AT对大学生的体育活动有很大贡献，特别是在女性中。研究结果加强了在大学生中促进和促进AT以及在进行此类努力时考虑社会人口统计学特征的重要性。