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Children’s Independent Mobility: Current Knowledge, Future Directions, and Public Health Implications

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  • Isabel Marzi

    (Institute of Human Movement Science and Health, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09111 Chemnitz, Germany)

  • Anne Kerstin Reimers

    (Institute of Human Movement Science and Health, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09111 Chemnitz, Germany)

Abstract

Environmental changes significantly impact health behavior. Active travel behavior is mostly affected by increasing motorization, urban sprawl, and traffic safety. Especially for children, active and independent travel can contribute to physical activity, social and motor development, and other health-related outcomes. A reduced number of children engaging in independent mobility over the last 20 years demanded researchers to further examine the construct of children’s independent mobility. By examining relevant literature, this narrative review aims to provide the current state of knowledge on children’s independent mobility, and identify future directions in research, as well as practical implications. From a public health perspective, considering children’s independent mobility in intervention programs is recommended, since it is associated with numerous health and environmental benefits. To develop interventions, multilevel socio-ecological influences on children’s independent mobility are widely examined; however, evidence is limited due to heterogeneous measurements and a lack of high-quality prospective studies. To oppose the decline in children’s independent mobility, further analysis using comparable measures is needed to understand the determinants of children’s independent mobility and to enable international comparison.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Marzi & Anne Kerstin Reimers, 2018. "Children’s Independent Mobility: Current Knowledge, Future Directions, and Public Health Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:11:p:2441-:d:179989
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kyttä, Marketta & Hirvonen, Jukka & Rudner, Julie & Pirjola, Iiris & Laatikainen, Tiina, 2015. "The last free-range children? Children’s independent mobility in Finland in the 1990s and 2010s," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Steffen C. E. Schmidt & Annette Henn & Claudia Albrecht & Alexander Woll, 2017. "Physical Activity of German Children and Adolescents 2003–2012: The MoMo-Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-10, November.
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    4. Sharmin, Samia & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2017. "Association between the built environment and children's independent mobility: A meta-analytic review," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 104-117.
    5. Karen Tillberg Mattsson, 2002. "Children’s (in)dependent mobility and parents’ chauffeuring in the town and the countryside," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(4), pages 443-453, September.
    6. Fyhri, Aslak & Hjorthol, Randi & Mackett, Roger L. & Fotel, Trine Nordgaard & Kyttä, Marketta, 2011. "Children's active travel and independent mobility in four countries: Development, social contributing trends and measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 703-710, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chelsea A. Pelletier & Katie Cornish & Caroline Sanders, 2021. "Children’s Independent Mobility and Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study with Families," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Michaela James & Mustafa Rasheed & Amrita Bandyopadhyay & Marianne Mannello & Emily Marchant & Sinead Brophy, 2022. "The Effect COVID Has Had on the Wants and Needs of Children in Terms of Play: Text Mining the Qualitative Response of the Happen Primary School Survey with 20,000 Children in Wales, UK between 2016 an," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Lingyi Qiu & Xuemei Zhu, 2021. "Housing and Community Environments vs. Independent Mobility: Roles in Promoting Children’s Independent Travel and Unsupervised Outdoor Play," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Longxi Li & Michelle E. Moosbrugger, 2021. "Correlations between Physical Activity Participation and the Environment in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Using Ecological Frameworks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Francisco Sergio Campos-Sánchez & Francisco Javier Abarca-Álvarez & Javier Molina-García & Palma Chillón, 2020. "A GIS-Based Method for Analysing the Association Between School-Built Environment and Home-School Route Measures with Active Commuting to School in Urban Children and Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Helen F. Dodd & Lily FitzGibbon & Brooke E. Watson & Rachel J. Nesbit, 2021. "Children’s Play and Independent Mobility in 2020: Results from the British Children’s Play Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Melody Smith & Rebecca Amann & Alana Cavadino & Deborah Raphael & Robin Kearns & Roger Mackett & Lisa Mackay & Penelope Carroll & Euan Forsyth & Suzanne Mavoa & Jinfeng Zhao & Erika Ikeda & Karen Witt, 2019. "Children’s Transport Built Environments: A Mixed Methods Study of Associations between Perceived and Objective Measures and Relationships with Parent Licence for Independent Mobility in Auckland, New ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-22, April.
    8. Ester Ayllón & Nieves Moyano & Azucena Lozano & María-Jesús Cava, 2019. "Parents’ Willingness and Perception of Children’s Autonomy as Predictors of Greater Independent Mobility to School," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-14, February.

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