Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan

Abstract 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...

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Autores principales:	Kimihiro Hino, Erika Ikeda, Saiko Sadahiro, Shigeru Inoue
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Active travel Commuting Safety Crime prevention New town Nutritional diseases. Deficiency diseases RC620-627 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/34c018716af34d8ca084d0d3a38f6353
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:34c018716af34d8ca084d0d3a38f63532021-11-28T12:42:01ZAssociations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan10.1186/s12966-021-01202-y1479-5868https://doaj.org/article/34c018716af34d8ca084d0d3a38f63532021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-021-01202-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/1479-5868Abstract 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.Kimihiro HinoErika IkedaSaiko SadahiroShigeru InoueBMCarticleActive travelCommutingSafetyCrime preventionNew townNutritional diseases. Deficiency diseasesRC620-627Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Active travel Commuting Safety Crime prevention New town Nutritional diseases. Deficiency diseases RC620-627 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Active travel Commuting Safety Crime prevention New town Nutritional diseases. Deficiency diseases RC620-627 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Kimihiro Hino Erika Ikeda Saiko Sadahiro Shigeru Inoue Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
description	Abstract 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.
format	article
author	Kimihiro Hino Erika Ikeda Saiko Sadahiro Shigeru Inoue
author_facet	Kimihiro Hino Erika Ikeda Saiko Sadahiro Shigeru Inoue
author_sort	Kimihiro Hino
title	Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
title_short	Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
title_full	Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
title_fullStr	Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
title_full_unstemmed	Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan
title_sort	associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in chiba, japan
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/34c018716af34d8ca084d0d3a38f6353
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Associations of neighborhood built, safety, and social environment with walking to and from school among elementary school-aged children in Chiba, Japan

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