IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i4p1276-d321522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Active Commuting to School and Physical Activity Levels among 11 to 16 Year-Old Adolescents from 63 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel Peralta

    (CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisboa; Portugal
    ISAMB, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Duarte Henriques-Neto

    (CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisboa; Portugal)

  • Joana Bordado

    (Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisboa; Portugal)

  • Nuno Loureiro

    (ISAMB, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
    Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico de Beja, 7800-295 Beja, Portugal)

  • Susana Diz

    (Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisboa; Portugal)

  • Adilson Marques

    (CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisboa; Portugal
    ISAMB, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal)

Abstract

Background: Global physical activity levels are low. Active commuting to school is a low-cost and sustainable behaviour that promotes adolescents’ physical activity levels. Despite its importance, data on low- and middle-income countries is scarce. This study aimed to assess the relationship between active commuting to school and physical activity (PA) levels among 11–16 years-old adolescents from 63 low- and middle-income countries and six world regions. Methods: Data were from the GSHS database. Participants were 187,934 adolescents (89,550 boys), aged 11–16 years-old, from 63 low- and middle-income countries. Active commuting to school and PA were self-reported as the number of days adolescents walked or cycled to school and engaged in physical activity for at least 60 min in the past 7 days. Results: Boys and girls who actively commuted to school presented higher prevalence of attaining the PA recommendations, but only for the 13–14 (boys: 16.6% versus 22.0%; girls: 9.8% versus 14.6%) and 15–16 (boys: 16.3% versus 21.6%; girls: 8.0% versus 14.0%) year-old age groups. Only for Oceania, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African girls and Sub-Saharan African boys no difference was found in the prevalence of attaining the PA recommendations between those who actively commuted to school and those who did not. Boys who actively commuted to school were 42% (95% CI: 1.37, 1.46) more likely to achieve the PA recommendations, while girls were 66% (95% CI: 1.59, 1.73) more likely to achieve the PA recommendations. Conclusions: Active commuting to school is associated with the adolescents’ physical activity levels. However, it may have a lesser influence in helping younger adolescents attaining physical activity recommendations. Public health authorities should promote active commuting to school among adolescents in order to improve the PA levels and promote health.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Peralta & Duarte Henriques-Neto & Joana Bordado & Nuno Loureiro & Susana Diz & Adilson Marques, 2020. "Active Commuting to School and Physical Activity Levels among 11 to 16 Year-Old Adolescents from 63 Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-8, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1276-:d:321522
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1276/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1276/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernanda Karina Dos Santos & José A. R. Maia & Thayse Natacha Q. F. Gomes & Timóteo Daca & Aspacia Madeira & Albertino Damasceno & Peter T. Katzmarzyk & António Prista, 2014. "Secular Trends in Habitual Physical Activities of Mozambican Children and Adolescents from Maputo City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-11, October.
    2. Javier Zaragoza & Ana Corral & Sergio Estrada & Ángel Abós & Alberto Aibar, 2019. "Active or Passive Commuter? Discrepancies in Cut-off Criteria among Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-12, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saeed Esmaeli & Kayvan Aghabayk & Nirajan Shiwakoti, 2024. "Measuring the Effect of Built Environment on Students’ School Trip Method Using Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Nuno Loureiro & Vânia Loureiro & Alberto Grao-Cruces & João Martins & Margarida Gaspar de Matos, 2022. "Correlates of Active Commuting to School among Portuguese Adolescents: An Ecological Model Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Adilson Marques & Thiago Santos & Élvio R. Gouveia & Yolanda Demetriou & Dorothea M. I. Schönbach & Gerson Ferrari & Dorota Kleszczewska & Anna Dzielska & Miguel Peralta, 2021. "Translation and Validation of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Active Commuting to and from School (BPNS-ACS) Scale in Young Portuguese Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Jennifer T. Gale & Jillian J. Haszard & Tessa Scott & Meredith C. Peddie, 2021. "The Impact of Organised Sport, Physical Education and Active Commuting on Physical Activity in a Sample of New Zealand Adolescent Females," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-12, July.
    5. Nuno Loureiro & Adilson Marques & Vânia Loureiro & Margarida Gaspar de Matos, 2021. "Active Transportation to School. Utopia or a Strategy for a Healthy Life in Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-9, April.
    6. Silvia A. González & Salomé Aubert & Joel D. Barnes & Richard Larouche & Mark S. Tremblay, 2020. "Profiles of Active Transportation among Children and Adolescents in the Global Matrix 3.0 Initiative: A 49-Country Comparison," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-29, August.
    7. João Martins & Adilson Marques & Élvio Rúbio Gouveia & Francisco Carvalho & Hugo Sarmento & Miguel González Valeiro, 2022. "Participation in Physical Education Classes and Health-Related Behaviours among Adolescents from 67 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-16, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klara Malinakova & Jana Furstova & Michal Kalman & Radek Trnka, 2020. "A Psychometric Evaluation of the Guilt and Shame Experience Scale (GSES) on a Representative Adolescent Sample: A Low Differentiation between Guilt and Shame," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Erik Sigmund & Dagmar Sigmundová & Petr Badura & Michal Kalman & Zdenek Hamrik & Jan Pavelka, 2015. "Temporal Trends in Overweight and Obesity, Physical Activity and Screen Time among Czech Adolescents from 2002 to 2014: A National Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-21, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1276-:d:321522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.