Socioeconomic status moderates the association between perceived environment and active commuting to school

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública 2018-01, Vol.52, p.93-93
• Main Authors: Silva, Alexandre Augusto de Paula da, Fermino, Rogério César, Souza, Carla Adriane, Lima, Alex Vieira, Rodriguez-Añez, Ciro Romelio, Reis, Rodrigo Siqueira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Brazil; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health Policy & Services; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Male; Multivariate Analysis; Original; Parent-Child Relations; Parents - psychology; Poisson Distribution; Reference Values; Residence Characteristics; Safety - statistics & numerical data; Schools; Social Class; Social Environment; Social Perception; Socioeconomic Factors; Students - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transportation; Transportation - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0034-8910; 1518-8787; 1518-8787
• DOI: 10.11606/S1518-8787.2018052000189

To analyze the moderator effect of socioeconomic status in the association between the perceived environment and active commuting to school. A total of 495 adolescents and their parents were interviewed. Perceived environment was operationalized in traffic and crime safety and assessed with the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale. Active commuting was self-reported by the adolescents, categorized in walking, bicycling or skating at least one time/week. Socioeconomic status was used as moderator effect, reported from adolescents' parents or guardians using Brazilian standardized socioeconomic status classification. Analyses were performed with Poisson regression on Stata 12.0. Prevalence of active commuting was 63%. Adolescents with low socioeconomic status who reported "it is easy to observe pedestrians and cyclists" were more likely to actively commute to school (PR = 1.18, 95%CI 1.03-1.13). Adolescents with low socioeconomic status whose parents or legal guardians reported positively to "being safe crossing the streets" had increased probability of active commuting to school (PR = 1.10, 95%CI 1.01-1.20), as well as those with high socioeconomic status with "perception of crime" were positively associated to the outcome (PR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.03-1.72). Socioeconomic status showed moderating effects in the association between the perceived environment and active commuting to school.