Active Commuting to School: An Interplay of Child Self-efficacy, Social Influence, and Built Environment

Background: Self-efficacy (SE) has been identified as a consistent predictor of child’s physical activity. However, the role of SE in child’s active commuting to school (ACS) remains unclear. The purposes of this study were to: 1) determine how the interplay of child SE, social factors, and environmental constraints influence child’s ACS, and 2) investigate sources of child SE.

Methods: Fourth graders and their parents (N=857) who lived within two miles from school were recruited from 74 schools across Texas. Children completed a survey assessing their attitudes, perceptions, and SE toward ACS, defined as walking or biking to/from school most days of the week. Parents provided information about their social demographics, e.g., gender, ethnicity, and types of assistance their families received. Environmental constraints, e.g., distance and land uses en route to school, were captured using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and field audits. An integrated model was tested using multilevel structural equation modeling.

Results: The model demonstrated a good model fit (RMSEA=.02, CFI=.99, WRMR=.84). Only 18.1% of the students were active commuters. Children from low socioeconomic status families (β=.40) were more likely to use active modes. ACS was predicted by both SE (β=.36) and environmental constraints (β=-.47). Environmental constraints were negatively (β=-.29), and child psychological states (β=.26) and social modeling (β=.28) were positively associated with child SE.

Conclusions: Few students are active commuters. To promote children’s ACS, interventions should include strategies to increase child SE and decrease environmental constraints.