School Principals’ Perceptions of Students Walking and Bicycling to School

Abstract

Background. The purpose was to identify presence of restrictive policies, frequency of active commuting to school, beliefs of childhood health and perceived enabling and restrictive factors with regard to students walking/bicycling to school as observed by elementary and middle school principals. Methods. The study used a non-experimental quantitative survey research method. The census consisted of all public and private, elementary and middle schools in three counties in a Midwestern region (n=96). Results. A total of 71 principals completed the survey (74% response rate). Analyses indicated that the actual number of students walking/bicycling to school did not significantly differ between schools with a restrictive policy and schools with no restrictive policy. Overall, the actual number of students walking/bicycling to school was largely underestimated by principals. In addition, principals at schools with higher walking/bicycling rates were significantly more likely to report that students should consider walking/bicycling if residing within one mile, had significantly more enabling environments, and had significantly less restrictive environments.