Abstract
Physical activity has many health benefits. Recently many young people do not meet recommended levels of physical activity. Active commuting to school provides an opportunity to increase the daily physical activity levels. However, the rates of walking and bicycling to school have been declining for years. Knowledge of factors that influence the decision to bicycle could be useful information to policy makers and authorities for the development of policies or programs that encourage high school students to bicycle more. Many studies have been conducted to examine factors associated with bicycling to school. However, there are a limited number of studies focused on high school students. The purpose of this project is to provide a better understanding of what encourages or discourages bicycling among high school students using data from a survey collected in 2010 at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento. The analysis indicated that a combination of individual, social environmental, and physical environmental factors were associated with bicycling to school among high school students. Individuals’ attitudes and preferences toward mode choice were found to be important factors that influence the decision to bicycle. Owning a bicycle does not guarantee its use. Of the students who live within bicycling distance (a 2.5-mile radius), 43% own a bicycle but only 4% indicated that they bicycled to and from school. Peers’ and parents’ attitudes and behaviors also seemed to influence the decision to bicycle. Compared to non-bicyclists, bicyclists were more often to agree that their friends bicycled to school (33.3% for bicyclists vs. 15.6% for non-bicyclists), their parents bicycled frequently (33.3% for bicyclists vs. 10.5% for non-bicyclists), and their parents encouraged them to bicycle (22.2% for bicyclists vs. 17.7% for non-bicyclists). Parents also play an important role by providing resources for different modes of travel. For the physical environment, less than 30% of all respondents agreed that they felt safe walking or skateboarding to school, and less than 20% of non-bicyclists reported that the felt comfortable bicycling on a busy street with a bicycle lane, all of which suggest that infrastructure can be an important factor on the decision to bicycle. Overall, the results suggest that multiple efforts are need to increase the rates of bicycling among high school students.