An Ecological Study of Children Commuting to School

Active commuting to school had been an overlooked source of s physical activity for children. This study first aimed to provide insights on how the individual activity-travel patterns of adults in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State were impacted by the presence of children in the household. Secondly, this dissertation investigated environmental characteristics for school base trips and explored the reciprocal relationships between children and adult's travel patterns.;This study highlighted differences in activity-travel patterns between individuals or households with and without children aged 18 or younger. People who lived with children generated more non-work related trips and spent more time on daily travel. Other differences in travel between parents and non- parents were explained by complex interactions between gender and work status. Women in general made more trips than men, but had a smaller daily activity realm. Interestingly, men who did not work but lived with children traveled the least. On the other hand, men who worked part time and lived with children had the longest travel time and the largest daily activity realm. Individuals who lived in higher residential density had smaller size of individual activity realm, and were less likely to be automobile dependent.;A strong inverse association between network distance from home to school and active commuting to school was found in all school age groups, even for those who lived near to their school. Age was positively associated with active commuting in elementary school children only. Gender has been consistently shown to be a non-significant association with travel modes to school for all school age groups. Elementary and middle school children whose household heads worked part time were more likely to be driven to school, whereas it was more likely for high school children whose household heads did not work. Different environmental attributes were associated with different travel modes by different age groups.