How Czech Adolescents Perceive Active Commuting to School: A Cross-Sectional Study

Michal Vorlíček, Petr Baďura, Josef Mitáš, Peter Kolarčik, Lukáš Rubín, Jana Vašíčková and Ferdinand Salonna
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Michal Vorlíček: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Petr Baďura: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Josef Mitáš: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Peter Kolarčik: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Lukáš Rubín: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Jana Vašíčková: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Ferdinand Salonna: Institute of Active Lifestyle, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-10

Abstract: To achieve a healthy lifestyle, adolescents must be physically active and meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. One of the most natural ways of increasing the amount of PA is active commuting (AC) to school. Recent reviews suggest that peer norms have the potential to shape PA during adolescence in particular. Thus, our primary aim was to investigate whether Czech adolescents misperceive their peers’ AC behaviors and attitudes towards AC. Our dataset comprised cross-sectional data on 1586 adolescents aged 11–15 years. Basic descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Regarding traveling to school, 68% of the Czech adolescents in this study are daily active commuters (walking, cycling, or riding a scooter or skateboard). Less than half of the respondents believed that most of their classmates were commuting to school actively almost daily. The students who believed that most of their classmates commuted to school actively had significantly higher chances of being regular active commuters themselves. The results showed that most of the Czech adolescents misperceived the AC norms of their peers. Thus, there could be potential in using a social norms approach aimed at increasing the level of AC in Czech adolescents through targeted interventions.

Keywords: school-aged children; cycling; walking; active transport; misperceptions; social norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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