Which social support and psychological factors are associated to active commuting to school?

• Adolescents with high self-efficacy were more likely to travel actively.
• Parents' encouragement increased the likelihood of students to move actively to school.
• Companionship of friends increased use of active transportation for teens.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between self-efficacy, enjoyment, and volitional control with active commuting, as well as to analyze the impact of social support from parents, friends, and teachers with active commuting to school.MethodsParticipants in this cross-sectional study were 625 students (male: 46.3%) aged 10 to 15 years from Porto, Portugal (2010/2011). A questionnaire was used to assess active commuting to/from school (walk/cycle), self-efficacy, enjoyment, volitional control and social support. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify significant associations between targeted variables and active commuting.ResultsThe results show positive associations in crude analyses for all variables, except for enjoyment for walk/cycle to school. In the adjusted model, higher likelihood of active commuting was found among students who reported having higher self-efficacy (OR = 2.10; CI95%: 1.07; 4.11) to walk/cycle to school as well as among adolescents who reported being encouraged by their parents (OR = 3.66; CI95%: 1.55; 8.69), and having the partnership of friends in active journeys (OR = 4.31; CI95%: 1.79; 10.37).ConclusionSelf-efficacy, encouragement from parents and companionship from friends were important indicators of active commuting to school among Portuguese adolescents. These findings provide support for further research to identify and understand factors that predict and explain the active commuting.