Branchevereniging Spelen & Bewegen

Actief verplaatsingsgedrag naar basisschool

Januari 2019 verscheen dit afstudeeronderzoek van Iris van de Craats (TU Eindhoven). Er is zowel een Nederlandstalig artikel als het (Engelstalige) rapport beschikbaar.

De samenvatting van het onderzoek is:
Several studies have shown that children worldwide, including in the Netherlands, are not meeting physical activity requirements. Active travel among children is decreasing and more children commute to school on the backseat of the car. This is an unfavorable development, because active travel provides important health and well-being benefits and the increasing numbers of cars around schools cause safety issues. The current study used a socio- ecological approach to search for empirical evidence on the influencing factors of child travel behavior. Several layers of the child’s environment have been considered, from the personal layer to the external layer.
Additionally, the mediating role of the parental safety perception was studied, as well as the relationship between active travel and subjective well-being and health. A literature review was conducted, on the basis of which a conceptual model was made. Survey data were collected from 660 children (aged 7-12) and their parents, attending 14 primary schools. The data were analyzed by means of multilevel regression analyses and a path analysis for the dependent variables parental safety perception, active travel and satisfaction with travel. Results show, among other things, that the active travel participation is influenced by age, the parental safety perception, parental travel mode, social connections of the child and travel distance. Parental safety perception is influenced by age, social cohesion and connectivity. Children who travel actively are more satisfied with their trip and are more active overall.
School boards and policy makers can use these insights to develop interventions which may increase active travel and, by extent, subjective well-being and health of children.

Er zijn, schrijft verkeerskunde, vijf tips te geven:
1) Adviseer ouders over de logistiek van het brengen en halen
2) Werk aan veilige en overzichtelijke (verkeers)situaties
3) Breng kinderen met elkaar in contact (om samen naar school te reizen)
4) Verhoog het plezier van kinderen tijdens hun trip naar school (en fietsen en lopen vinden ze leuker)
5) Let op stedelijke dichtheid en connectiviteit bij ontwikkeling nieuwe buurten
In wijken met een niet al te hoge stedelijke dichtheid en met meerdere mogelijke routes naar school (een hoge connectiviteit) is de kans groter dat kinderen met een actief vervoermiddel naar school gaan.

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