Associations of children's active school travel with perceptions of the physical environment and characteristics of the social environment: A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review summarised and evaluated the evidence for associations between school travel modes in children aged 5-13 years and perceived physical environments as well as social and sociodemographic characteristics. A computerised electronic search was performed for English articles published between January 2000 and July 2017. Data were extracted, study quality was assessed, and findings were analysed using a vote-counting technique. Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Active school travel was associated positively with safety, walkability and neighbourhood social interactions, and negatively with travel distance and car ownership. Risk of bias, poor sampling methods and lack of external validity were common study limitations. Generally insufficient findings were reported for social characteristics.