摘要：We directly observed the prevalence of walking and bicycling (active commuting) to 8 randomly selected urban and suburban elementary schools. When school was used as the unit of analysis, only 5.0% of the students actively commuted to or from school across all observed trips. Active commuting was not affected ( P ≥; 18) by school urbanization level, school socioeconomic status, time of day, day of week, weather conditions, or temperature. These results indicate a need for school- and community-based interventions. The recent decline in the percentage of walking or bicycling trips performed by children 1 has reduced their potential to accumulate recommended levels of physical activity. 2 Previous estimates of walking to school have been based on parent reports. 3– 5 The purpose of this study was to determine objectively, through direct observation, the prevalence of active commuting (i.e., walking and bicycling) to and from elementary schools in urban and suburban communities in a city in the southeastern United States.
