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Children’s Independent Mobility to School in Seven European Countries: A Multinomial Logit Model

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  • Houshmand Masoumi

    (Center for Technology and Society, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
    Department of Transport and Supply Chain Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

  • Martin van Rooijen

    (Department of Education, University of Humanistic Studies, 3512 HD Utrecht, The Netherlands)

  • Grzegorz Sierpiński

    (Faculty of Transport and Aviation Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland)

Abstract

The determinants of children’s independent school mobility and the contextual discrepancies between these determinants have not been comprehensively investigated in previous studies. It is important to examine these determinants because independent school mobility is associated with children’s physical activity, according to the literature. This paper examined the associations of different groups of variables such as household, mobility, perceptions, and the built environment with independent school mobility of children between 9 and 12 years using a sample of 1304 girls (50.9%) and boys (49.1%) in seven European countries. The sample was analyzed by Multinomial Logistic Regression, Chi-square test of independence, and Proportional Reduction in Error methods. According to the findings, father’s and mother’s commute mode choice, child’s mode choice of commute to school, child’s bike ownership, parent’s perception of safety, parent’s evaluation of bike lane and sidewalk quality, child’s commute distance, number of driving licenses in the household, accessibility of public transport, and population density in the neighborhood and around the school proved to be very strong and significant determinants of children’s independent school mobility in the Europe-wide sample. The comparison of the levels of independent school mobility did not show any significant differences between high-income countries such as Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, and emerging economies and developing countries like Poland, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia. However, a direct comparison between Poland (emerging economy) (33.6%) and the Netherlands (high-income) (31.7%) revealed significant differences in the level of independent school mobility. This study found the motives for this discrepancy due to the significant difference in bike ownership, the number of household members working outside of the house, household size, commute distances of parents, and driving license possession.

Suggested Citation

  • Houshmand Masoumi & Martin van Rooijen & Grzegorz Sierpiński, 2020. "Children’s Independent Mobility to School in Seven European Countries: A Multinomial Logit Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:9149-:d:458294
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lang, Debbie & Collins, Damian & Kearns, Robin, 2011. "Understanding modal choice for the trip to school," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 509-514.
    2. Fyhri, Aslak & Hjorthol, Randi, 2009. "Children’s independent mobility to school, friends and leisure activities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 377-384.
    3. Parish, Susan L. & Cloud, Jennifer M., 2006. "Child care for low-income school-age children: Disability and family structure effects in a national sample," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 927-940, August.
    4. Broberg, Anna & Sarjala, Satu, 2015. "School travel mode choice and the characteristics of the urban built environment: The case of Helsinki, Finland," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-10.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Bailey & Francis Ries & Claude Scheuer, 2023. "Active Schools in Europe—A Review of Empirical Findings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.

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