TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Trends in Australian children traveling to school 1971-2003: burning petrol or carbohydrates?
JO  - Preventive medicine
A1  - van der Ploeg, Hidde P.
A1  - Merom, Dafna
A1  - Corpuz, Grace
A1  - Bauman, Adrian E.
SP  - 60
EP  - 62
VL  - 46
IS  - 1
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To determine how Australian children traveled to and from school between 1971 and 2003. METHODS: The 1971 (n=4284), 1981 (n=4936), 1991 (n=662) and 1999-2003 (n=816) Household Travel Surveys from the New South Wales Government Department of Planning were used to determine the mode of transport kids (5-14 years) took to and from school in the area of Sydney (Australia). RESULTS: The results showed that the percentage of children aged 5-9 that walked to school was 57.7, 44.5, 35.3 and 25.5 in 1971, 1981, 1991 and 1999-2003, respectively. The percentage of children aged 5-9 that were driven to school by car in the four surveys was 22.8, 37.3, 53.9 and 66.6, respectively. The results for children aged 10-14 were similar, walking decreased from 44.2% to 21.1% and car use increased from 12.2% to 47.8% over the study period. Similar results were found for travel from school and there were no major differences between boys and girls. CONCLUSION: Between 1971 and 2003, Australian children's mode of travel to and from school has markedly shifted from active (walking) to inactive (car) modes.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0091-7435
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2007.06.002
ID  - ref1
ER  -