Transportation Methods and Their Effects on Academic Outcomes

Abstract

Actively commuting to and from school has declined in recent decades, while childhood obesity rates have substantially increased. This research takes a closer look at elementary school-aged children’s transportation methods to find whether or not these methods may be associated with academic outcomes. Parents (N = 208) completed the Safe Routes to School survey, where they reported their child’s transportation methods to and from elementary school, and answered two additional questions that were added to the survey to account for previous academic outcomes and physical activity. The measurement for academic outcome was grades and was based on the child’s most recent report card. No relationship was found between children’s transportation methods and academic outcomes (p > .05). Parent’s beliefs regarding how healthy active transportation is was statistically significant (p < .05) depending on the language in which they completed the survey. A relationship was found between children asking to actively commute and their parent’s perception of how healthy active transportation is (p < .05). Further research may be directed towards finding the directionality of these relationships. This information will help guide policymakers’ decisions regarding who their target population should be and how they should be promoting certain healthy habits. Keywords: Transportation methods, academic outcomes, health