It is widely proven that being physically active and avoiding sedentary behaviour help to improve adolescents’ well-being and keep them in better health in general. We aimed to investigate the relationship between modes of transport to school and subjective complaints among schoolchildren. Analyses were based on the HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) surveys conducted in 2017/18 in nine countries (N = 55,607; mean age 13.43 ± 1.64 yrs.). The main outcome showed that health complaints consisted of somatic and psychological complaints. Transport to school was characterized by mode of getting there (walking, biking, or another passive mode). A total of 46.1% of students walked and 7.3% cycled to school; 46.6% commuted by passive means. Biking to school was more frequent in Denmark (37.9%), Norway (26.5%), and Germany (26.6%). The multivariate generalized linear model adjusted for age, gender, country, and school proximity showed that biking to school is protective against reports of health complaints. The beta parameters were equal to −0.498 (p < 0.001) for the general HBSC-SCL index, −0.208 (p < 0.001) for the somatic complaint index, and −0.285 (p < 0.001) for the psychological complaints index. Young people who actively commute to school are less likely to report health complaints, especially psychological symptoms.

Active school transport (AST) is a source of daily physical activity uptake. However, AST seems to have decreased worldwide over recent decades. We aimed to examine recent trends in AST and associations with gender, age, family affluence, and time to school, using data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in the Czech Republic, Norway, Scotland, and Wales. Data from 88,212 students (11, 13 and 15 years old) revealed stable patterns of AST from 2006 to 2018, apart from a decrease in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2010. For survey waves combined, walking to and from school was most common in the Czech Republic (55%) and least common in Wales (30%). Cycling was only common in Norway (22%). AST differed by gender (Scotland and Wales), by age (Norway), and by family affluence (everywhere but Norway). In the Czech Republic, family affluence was associated with change over time in AST, and the effect of travel time on AST was stronger. The findings indicate that the decrease in AST could be levelling off in the countries considered here. Differential associations with sociodemographic factors and travel time should be considered in the development of strategies for AST.

Depending on the region and urbanization level, the rate of cycling to school in Germany varies largely. The influence of distance from home to school, educational level, the school’s region, and parents’ socio-demographic characteristics on cycling to secondary school in Germany is unclear. Therefore, this study analyzed students’ and parents’ socio-demographic correlates of cycling to school, including separate analyses by gender, among 12- to 15-year-olds attending different (sub)urban schools in Southern Germany. In 2019, 121 students (girls: 40.5%, boys: 59.5%) aged 13.1 ± 0.9 and 42 parents (mothers: 81%, fathers: 19%) aged 47.8 ± 5.5 participated. Students completed a self-report questionnaire; parents completed a self- and proxy-report questionnaire. In total, between 61.7% and 67.5% of students sometimes cycled to school. Binary logistic regressions revealed that being a girl, increasing age, attending an intermediate educational level combined with a suburban school region (small or medium-sized town), increasing distance from home to school, and having parents who did not cycle to work led to declining odds of cycling to school. Many 12- to 15-year-olds sometimes cycled to school in (sub)urban school regions in Southern Germany. As several socio-demographic characteristics correlated with cycling to school, this should be considered when developing a future school-based bicycle intervention.

Introduction: Despite the health benefits, a large proportion of girls and boys in Europe do not travel to school actively. A better understanding of the correlates associated with this behavior could guide interventions. This study examines perceived social and environmental correlates of active travel to school (ACTS) from the 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in four European countries, with a special emphasis on gender differences (n = 22,023).Methods: Logistic regression was conducted to analyze associations between the perceived importance of each correlate and ACTS behavior for 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old girls and boys from Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. All models were adjusted for age, family affluence, and meeting World Health Organization recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.Results: Rates of ACTS significantly differed between girls and boys. In Czechia, 65% of girls and boys traveled to school actively, followed by Slovakia (61.4% girls and 58.4% boys), Poland (57.7% girls and 60.2% boys), and Germany (42.6% girls and 48.6% boys). Girls were less likely to actively travel to school compared to boys (odds ratio [OR]: 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87–0.97). Increasing age (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93–0.97) and a greater distance to school index (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88–0.90) were both negatively associated with ACTS. The perceived importance of living closer to school and of road and neighborhood safety was positively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in boys than in girls for neighborhood safety. On the contrary, the perceived importance of having people to walk with was negatively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in girls (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.65–0.84) than in boys (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.66–0.88).Discussion: This study provides insights into perceived social and environmental correlates associated with ACTS behavior. Future research should include gender-specific perceptions and more in-depth investigations of correlates encouraging ACTS, especially considering social aspects, safety issues, and the structuring of the environment in different cultural settings.

Background: Active travel to/from school can contribute to adolescents’ overall physical activity. This study aimed to examine factors that stimulate or discourage 12- to 15-year-old adolescents’ cycling to/from school from the perspective of adolescents, parents, and teachers in 5 European countries. Methods: We conducted concept mapping sessions with 437 secondary school students, 89 parents, and 72 teachers. Participants generated ideas regarding the needs of adolescents to cycle daily to/from school, individually sorted all ideas (on self-perceived similarity), and rated their importance (for being able to cycle to/from school) and feasibility on a 5-point Likert-scale. Clusters representing potential determinants were created using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis and categorized according the Model of Children’s Active Travel. Results: Participants identified 30 different potential determinants, of which 28 were by adolescents, 26 were by parents, and 26 were by teachers. Fifteen potential determinants were categorized in the “objective” environmental domain of Model of Children’s Active Travel (eg, “A good and safe cycling infrastructure”); 10 in the child perceptions domain (eg, “A sense of safety”); 4 in the “objective” child, parent, and family characteristics domain (eg, “Skills & knowledge”); and 1 in the parents’ perceptions domain (ie, “Parents support & perceptions”). Potential determinants considerably differed across stakeholder groups and countries. Conclusions: Adolescents, parents, and teachers identified a wide range of potential determinants for cycling to/from school in adolescents. Our findings indicate that future interventions might benefit from including the perspectives of adolescents, parents, and teachers, focusing on determinants from all domains of the Model of Children’s Active Travel model.