Association between the built environment characteristics and the parental perceived barriers towards active commuting to school
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v68.115960Keywords:
Active travel, environment design, household, neighbourhoodAbstract
Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between parental barriers and family built environment characteristics, differentiating by parents and adolescent’s gender.
Methods: A total of 94 Spanish parents of adolescents belonging to 13 different schools (Granada, Jaén, and Valencia) answered a questionnaire about the mode of commuting to and from school of their children, and the barriers they perceived towards active commuting of their offspring. The analysis of the built environment was carried out with the “Microscale Audit Pedestrian Streetscapes” tool.
Results: Fathers perceived increased barriers for walking when pedestrian design were worse (β = -0.14; CI = -0.26, -0.01). The barriers perceived by mothers were higher when the aesthetics characteristic was worse (β = -0.22; CI = -0.40, 0.00). For boys, the parental general (β= -0.05; CI= -0.39, -0.00), cycling (β= -0.14; CI= -0.26, -0.01) and total barriers (β= -0.19; CI= -0.19, -0.02) were higher when pedestrian design was worse. However, no significant results were observed for girls.
Conclusion: Fathers perceived more barriers when pedestrian design features worsened, and mothers when street aesthetics worsened. Also, parents of boys presented more barriers when the pedestrian design characteristic was worse. Therefore, the development and improvement of pedestrian and street infrastructure could reduce parents’ perception of barriers that influence the active commuting to school of their offspring.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Ruiz-Alarcón, Manuel Herrador-Colmenero, María Jesús Aranda-Balboa, Patricia Gálvez-Fernández, Romina Gisele Saucedo-Araujo, Ana Queralt, Francisco Javier Huertas-Delgado
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