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Funder: Obayashi Foundation; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008042, BACKGROUND: Although it is globally known that Japan has high prevalence of active school travel among children, there are few international studies on Japanese children's school travel. Moreover, only few studies have focused on the differences in their mode of travel between to-school and from-school. This study examined the associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environments with walking to/from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan. METHODS: We conducted an online survey with 1545 parents of children aged 6-12 years residing in Chiba between 25 and 27 November 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. A neighborhood was defined as the area of a postcode provided by the participants. Each neighborhood environment was assessed based on the built environment (new town designation, walkability, distance to school, population density), social environment (neighborhood cohesion and connection), and safety (CCTVs, a road section for walking alone, safety volunteers). Neighborhood walkability was measured using subscales of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (youth and abbreviated versions) including crime safety and traffic safety. Parents' perceived influence of COVID-19 on school commuting and after-school activities were also included in the model as covariates. Walking to and from school were separately analyzed using multinomial logistic regressions, where new towns and walkability were computed separately as explanatory variables. RESULTS: Four fifths of children walked to and from school daily. Walking to school was positively associated with crime safety, neighborhood connections, and schools sited in new towns. Walking from school had positive associations with traffic safety, neighborhood cohesion, and CCTVs, but negative associations with safety volunteers and after-school activities. The presence of a section for walking alone and perceived influence of COVID-19 had negative associations with walking to and from school. CONCLUSIONS: Recent social changes such as declining birthrate, decline in public elementary schools, and increasing after-school activities may change parental attitudes toward children's walking to/from school, and subsequently, their mode of school travel over time. To maintain the high prevalence of walking to/from school in Japan, multidisciplinary approaches involving different stakeholders from education, public health, and urban planning are required to overcome sectionalism and support this behavior in the long term.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • School travel policy and practices predominantly focus on road traffic safety. • Support from local government was the anchor of school travel policies and practices. • Safe pedestrian crossings around school may facilitate active school travel. • Biking and public transport to school was inequitable by school socioeconomic status. • An intersectoral approach is needed to support active school travel., Active school travel contributes to children’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. The prevalence of children’s active school travel, however, has been declining in many developed countries. Gaining insights into school culture and environments in relation to school travel behaviour is crucial to inform interventions. Using a multiphase mixed methods approach, this study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how school policies and practices supported or inhibited school travel behaviour in Auckland, New Zealand. Data were drawn from Neighbourhoods for Active Kids, a cross-sectional study of 1085 children aged 8–13 years between February 2015 and December 2016. School representatives were interviewed regarding their policies and practices related to school travel behaviour and traffic around school, and the data were analysed thematically. An overarching theme, sub-themes and categories were contextualised for quantitative modelling using objectively measured school variables (school socioeconomic status, active school travel programme, built environments around school). Mixed effects multinomial logistic regression models were employed to determine associations between school travel mode and objectively measured child (sociodemographic characteristics, traffic safety perceptions) and school variables. Safety was the core concept of school travel policies, procedures and programmes. Significant differences in child variables, school socioeconomic status, and cycle lanes and traffic lights around school were found between children who actively travelled or used public transport to school and those driven to school. Overall, this study demonstrated the important role of school policy and procedures and the potential application of an intersectoral approach for interventions to support changes in school travel behaviour.

Children&rsquo, s independent mobility is declining internationally. Parents are the gatekeepers of children&rsquo, s independent mobility. This mixed methods study investigates whether parent perceptions of the neighbourhood environment align with objective measures of the neighbourhood built environment, and how perceived and objective measures relate to parental licence for children&rsquo, s independent mobility. Parents participating in the Neighbourhood for Active Kids study (n = 940) answered an open-ended question about what would make their neighbourhoods better for their child&rsquo, s independent mobility, and reported household and child demographics. Objective measures of the neighbourhood built environment were generated using geographic information systems. Content analysis was used to classify and group parent-reported changes required to improve their neigbourhood. Parent-reported needs were then compared with objective neighbourhood built environment measures. Linear mixed modelling examined associations between parental licence for independent mobility and (1) parent neighbourhood perceptions, and (2) objectively assessed neighbourhood built environment features. Parents identified the need for safer traffic environments. No significant differences in parent reported needs were found by objectively assessed characteristics. Differences in odds of reporting needs were observed for a range of socio-demographic characteristics. Parental licence for independent mobility was only associated with a need for safer places to cycle (positive) and objectively assessed cycling infrastructure (negative) in adjusted models. Overall, the study findings indicate the importance of safer traffic environments for children&rsquo, s independent mobility.

Background Active school travel (AST) is influenced by multiple factors including built and social environments, households and individual variables. A holistic theory such as Mitra’s Behavioural Model of School Transportation (BMST) is vital to comprehensively understand these complex interrelationships. This study aimed to assess direct and indirect associations between children’s AST and environmental, household and child factors based on the BMST using structural equation modelling (SEM). Methods Data were drawn from Neighbourhoods for Active Kids (NfAK), a cross-sectional study of 1102 children aged 8–13 years (school years 5–8) and their parents from nine intermediate and 10 primary schools in Auckland, New Zealand between February 2015 and December 2016. Data were collected using an online participatory mapping survey (softGIS) with children, a computer-assisted telephone interviewing survey (CATI) with parents, and ArcGIS for built environment attributes. Based on the BMST a conceptual model of children’s school travel behaviour was specified for SEM analyses (‘hypothesised SEM’), and model modification was made to improve the model (‘modified SEM’). SEM analyses using Mplus were performed to test the hypothesised/modified SEM and to assess direct and indirect relationships among variables. Results The overall fit of the modified SEM was acceptable (N = 542; Root mean square error of approximation = 0.04, Comparative fit index = 0.94, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.92). AST was positively associated with child independent mobility, child-perceived neighbourhood safety, and parent-perceived importance of social interaction and neighbourhood social environment. Distance to school, and parental perceptions of convenience and concerns about traffic safety were negatively associated with AST. Parental fears of stranger danger were indirectly related to AST through those of traffic safety. Distance to school and child independent mobility mediated relationships between AST and child school year and sex. Conclusions Increasing children’s AST requires action on multiple fronts including communities that support independent mobility by providing child friendly social and built environments, safety from traffic, and policies that promote local schools and safe vehicle-free zones around school. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12966-019-0794-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Funding Information: Funding: MS is supported by a Health Research Council of New Zealand Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellowship (grant number 17/013). EI is supported by the Medical Research Council [MC_UU_00006/5]. SM is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (#1121035). KH is supported by Academy of Finland as part of PLANhealth project (13297753). TL is supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture as part of FREERIDE project (grant number OKM/30/626/2019). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Regular participation in physical activity is essential for children’s physical, mental, and cognitive health. Neighborhood environments may be especially important for children who are more likely to spend time in the environment proximal to home. This article provides an update of evidence for associations between children’s physical activity behaviors and objectively assessed environmental characteristics derived using geographical information system (GIS)-based approaches. A systematic scoping review yielded 36 relevant articles of varying study quality. Most studies were conducted in the USA. Findings highlight the need for neighborhoods that are well connected, have higher population densities, and have a variety of destinations in the proximal neighborhood to support children’s physical activity behaviors. A shorter distance to school and safe traffic environments were significant factors in supporting children’s active travel behaviors. Areas for improvement in the field include the consideration of neighborhood self-selection bias, including more diverse population groups, ground-truthing GIS databases, utilising data-driven approaches to derive environmental indices, and improving the temporal alignment of GIS datasets with behavioral outcomes.

© 2019 The Authors Introduction: Active transport (AT) contributes to human and environmental health but is low and declining in New Zealand (NZ) children and youth. Quality evidence is necessary to inform and evaluate interventions, identify inequities, and understand trends. NZ has participated in the Global Physical Activity (PA) Matrix since 2014. This collaboration uses a harmonised process to develop national Report Cards including “grades” for PA behaviours, including AT. The purpose of this article is: (1) to detail the development of NZ's 2018 PA Report Card, focusing on AT; (2) to examine AT trends across the Report Cards (2014/2016/2018); and (3) to consider implications of methodological approaches and available data sources for monitoring and promoting AT. Methods: For the 2018 NZ PA Report Card, data sources were identified through academic and grey literature, and online searches in 2017–2018. A panel of national experts contributed to grading the AT indicator through identification of pertinent data sources, and discussion and agreement on the final grade. Methodologies and results for AT across the Report Cards were collated and compared. Results: Grades for the AT indicator have remained consistently low across report cards: in 2014, the overall grade was C and this reduced to C- in 2016 and 2018. Subgroup differences (i.e., sex, ethnicity, deprivation) were observed in AT across all time periods; however, these were not consistent across surveys or Report Cards. Data sources and survey items used to calculate the AT grades across three reports varied substantially, limiting ability to track changes in AT over time and compare results across surveys. Conclusions: The low and declining levels of AT in NZ children and youth indicates that national strategies to increase AT are urgently required. Future efforts should aim to standardise measurements of AT across national surveys to enable monitoring and comparison of patterns across time.