OBJECTIVES:

Previous research consistently indicates that children who engage in active school transport (AST) are more active than their peers who use motorized modes (car or bus). However, studies of the correlates of AST have been conducted predominantly in high-income countries and have yielded mixed findings. Using data from a heterogeneous sample of 12 country sites across the world, we investigated the correlates of AST in 9–11-year olds.

METHODS:

The analytical sample comprised 6555 children (53.8% girls), who reported their main travel mode to school and the duration of their school trip. Potential individual and neighborhood correlates of AST were assessed with a parent questionnaire adapted from previously validated instruments. Multilevel generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were used to examine the associations between individual and neighborhood variables and the odds of engaging in AST while controlling for the child’s school. Site moderated the relationship of seven of these variables with AST; therefore we present analyses stratified by site.

RESULTS:

The prevalence of AST varied from 5.2 to 79.4% across sites and the school-level intra-class correlation ranged from 0.00 to 0.56. For each site, the final GLMM included a different set of correlates of AST. Longer trip duration (that is, ⩾16 min versus ⩽15 min) was associated with lower odds of AST in eight sites. Other individual and neighborhood factors were associated with AST in three sites or less.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our results indicate wide variability in the prevalence and correlates of AST in a large sample of children from twelve geographically, economically and culturally diverse country sites. This suggests that AST interventions should not adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Future research should also explore the association between psychosocial factors and AST in different countries.

中文翻译：

---

活跃的学校交通工具的相关性是否因地制宜？

目标：

先前的研究始终表明，从事主动学校交通（AST）的孩子比使用机动模式（汽车或公共汽车）的同龄人更活跃。但是，AST相关性的研究主要是在高收入国家进行的，得出的结果好坏参半。使用来自全球12个国家/地区地点的异类样本的数据，我们调查了9-11岁儿童中AST的相关性。

方法：

分析样本包括6555名儿童（53.8％的女孩），他们报告了他们的主要出行方式和上学时间。AST的潜在个体和邻域相关性是使用从先前验证过的工具改编的父母问卷进行评估的。多级广义线性混合模型（GLMM）用于检查个体变量和邻域变量之间的关联以及在控制孩子的学校时参与AST的几率。Site调节了其中七个变量与AST的关系；因此，我们提出了按地点分层的分析。

结果：

在各个站点中，AST的患病率从5.2％到79.4％不等，并且学校级别的班内相关性在0.00到0.56之间。对于每个站点，最终的GLMM都包含一组不同的AST相关系数。较长的出行时间（即⩾16分钟vs⩽15分钟）与8个地点的AST几率较低相关。其他个人和邻里因素与AST的相关性在3个地点以内。

结论：

我们的结果表明，来自十二个地理，经济和文化上不同的国家/地区的大量儿童样本中AST的患病率和相关性差异很大。这表明AST干预措施不应采用“一刀切”的方法。未来的研究还应该探索不同国家的社会心理因素与AST之间的关联。