Association between the built environment, parental perceptions and children's neighborhood travel: an exploration of independent mobility licenses of Hispanic children in the San Francisco Bay Area
Creators: name: Dwelley, Amanda E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: This paper will examine socio-demographic and environment correlates of parental licenses for independent travel, paying particular attention to differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents' interpretation of the built and social environment. Parental licenses for neighborhood travel, defined here as parental permission for children to walk in their neighborhoods without adult supervision, can influence children's health through the physical activity of active transport (Davison, Werder & Lawson, 2008; Page, Cooper, Griew, Davis & Hillsdon, 2009). Increased physical activity is associated with lower body-mass index, and physical activity, in turn, may be linked to features of the physical environment that afford more active travel such as trips to school (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Licenses for independent travel are only one factor in explaining children's physical activity; other factors include the availability of motorized transport, children's perceptions of the neighborhood, recreational facilities or programs, children's competence, and parental support for physical activity (Gordon-Larsen, 2006; Trost et al., 2003). Research on independent mobility in the US has focused on children's active transport to school, while literature from the UK and Australia has investigated the general concept of independent mobility through neighborhood walking or biking. To better understand the relationship between the built environment and mobility licenses for children, this study examines responses to a survey of parents of 10-14 year old children in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study first asks if there is a relationship between the built environment and children's ability to travel unsupervised (without adults) in their neighborhoods. In addition to objective features of the built environment, the study includes parental perceptions of neighborhood, which could reflect their view of the social environment as well as the built environment. Second, this study asks if the relationship between the built environment and mobility licenses varies by the child's Hispanic ethnicity. Children's physical activity and independent mobility have been declining in recent decades in the US and UK, at the expense of individual and public health and psychosocial development (Hillman, 1990; Page, Cooper, Griew & Jago, 2010; Prezza et al., 2001; Rissotto & Giuliani, 2006). The rate of children walking or biking to school--a form of active transport - has declined in the US, while motorized transport and parent shuttling have increased (McDonald & Aalborg, 2009; Surface Transportation Policy Project, Transportation and Land Use Coalition & Latino Issues Forum, 2003). At the same time, parental restrictions have increased, presumably for fear of safety (Page et al., 2010; Valentine, 1997). Physical activity through school and sports programming has not compensated for the decline in physical activity through active transport (Brownson, Boehmer & Luke, 2005; Surface Transportation Policy Project et al., 2003).