Children who walk or bike to school are more likely to meet health-related physical activity guidelines

(2.) Tudor-Locke et al. (2002). Omission of active commuting to school and the prevalence of children’s health-related physical activity levels: the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study. Child Care Health and Development, 28, 507-512.

Target Group: School-aged children (average age 10years)

Program Name: RLMS (The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study)

Location: Russia

Study Rationale: Active commuting to school by walking or bicycling is a potential source of moderate activity for children.

Study Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of omitting active commuting to school on conclusions about children’s physical activity levels.


Study Design:
- longitudinal survey-based research;
- nationally representative household phone survey; >6,400 households were surveyed eight times between 1992 & 1998;
- data about physical education classes, out-of-school active pursuits and active commuting to school were obtained by parent proxy; collected on 1094 school-aged children (572 boys, 522 girls)
- data was examined according to whether or not children met health-related physical activity guidelines, and how this related to active commuting to school behavior

Intervention or Program:
N/A

Impact on Physical Activity:
- omitting active commuting to school resulted in a statistically significant decrease in children who met health-related physical activity guidelines (12% without active commuting versus 20% with active commuting); similar for both genders
- the need to get to and from school is an opportunity for children to accumulate health-related physical activity