Commuting to school among Mexican schoolchildren and adolescents

Active commuting (walking or cycling) is associated with benefits to health; thus, it is required to identify factors that promote it. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between the transport modes used by Mexican pediatric population to commute to school with sociodemographic and socioeconomic individual characteristics and public insecurity at the state level.

The frequency of transport modes used by schoolchildren and adolescents to commute to school (walking, cycling, private car and public transport) were estimated using the database of the Encuesta Intercensal 2015. In an ecological analysis (i.e., states as observation units) correlations with food insecurity, urbanization level, and violent deaths statistics at state-level were obtained.

The most frequent transportation mode was walking (66.2%), followed by car (16.2%) and public transportation (15.3%). Active commuting (walking or cycling) was more frequent in males, schoolchildren, low socioeconomic status, living in rural or southern areas and those who spent <15 min to commute. Passive commute was more frequent among females, adolescents, high socioeconomic status, and living in urban areas. In the more urbanized states, active transportation was less frequent, but motorized transportation was more prevalent. Public insecurity was negatively related to cycling.

Maintaining or increasing active commuting among Mexican pediatric population is necessary through public policies aimed to improve physical and social environment.