Perceived parental barriers towards active commuting to school in Chilean children and adolescents of Valparaíso

Active commuting to school (ACS) provides children and adolescents an opportunity to increase their physical activity levels. Perceived parental barriers are important factors that can influence in ACS in school population. The aim of this study was to identify the parental barriers to active commuting to school among Chilean youth and their association with gender and the usual commuting mode. Parents of children (n = 117) and adolescents (n = 78) completed a self-reported questionnaire. Sociodemographic characteristics, as well as the commuting mode used to go to school and work and parental barriers to active commuting were reported. Parents of children who passively commute to school reported distance to school (p=.000) as the main barrier compared with those who commute actively. Parents of adolescents who passively commute to school reported traffic speed (p=.016) as the main barrier compared with those who commute actively. Parents of adolescent males reported dangerous intersections (p=.024), the absence of adults to walk with (p=.023) and weather (p=.007) at significantly higher frequency compared with the parents of females. Perceived barriers of parents of children were associated with their children´s mode of commuting and barriers of parents of adolescents were associated with their adolescent´s mode of commuting and gender. Parents of children and adolescents reported distance and traffic as the mains barriers to ACS. Education in safe routes to schools and public policies to distribute the students into closer school are needed as a strategy to promote and improve ACS.