A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia

Alison Carver; Ben Watson; Ben Shaw; Mayer Hillman

doi:10.1080/14733285.2013.812303

A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia

Alison Carver, Ben Watson, Ben Shaw, Mayer Hillman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We compared independent mobility (freedom to move around the neighbourhood - or similar - without adult accompaniment) among English and Australian schoolchildren. Parents reported mobility licences granted to their children (e.g. allowing them to cross main roads alone) and accompaniment on local trips. Children reported travel mode to school. We examined associations between mobility licences and independent school journeys, and accompaniment on local trips. Among 10-12-year-olds, English children had more licences than Australian children. Mobility licences were directly associated with independent school journeys among primary but not among secondary schoolchildren who travelled further; and inversely associated with parental accompaniment to other destinations. Influences on parental restrictions should be examined to promote children's independent mobility.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	461-475
Number of pages	15
Journal	Children's Geographies
Volume	11
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2013.812303
Publication status	Published - Nov 2013
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

active transport
adolescent
neighbourhood
rural
urban

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10.1080/14733285.2013.812303

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title = "A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia",

abstract = "We compared independent mobility (freedom to move around the neighbourhood - or similar - without adult accompaniment) among English and Australian schoolchildren. Parents reported mobility licences granted to their children (e.g. allowing them to cross main roads alone) and accompaniment on local trips. Children reported travel mode to school. We examined associations between mobility licences and independent school journeys, and accompaniment on local trips. Among 10-12-year-olds, English children had more licences than Australian children. Mobility licences were directly associated with independent school journeys among primary but not among secondary schoolchildren who travelled further; and inversely associated with parental accompaniment to other destinations. Influences on parental restrictions should be examined to promote children's independent mobility.",

keywords = "active transport, adolescent, neighbourhood, rural, urban",

author = "Alison Carver and Ben Watson and Ben Shaw and Mayer Hillman",

note = "Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge all the schools and families who participated in our study as well as the funding bodies who supported this study: the English arm was funded by the UK Department for Children, Families and Schools (now the Department for Education); the Esm{\'e}e Fairbairn Foundation and the Rees Jeffreys Road Foundation. The Australian study arm was supported by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth). We also thank Dr Alice Dalton, University of East Anglia, who generated distance to school data for the English sample, and Professor Robert Jeffery of University of Minnesota School of Public Health for reviewing and providing comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Alison Carver is supported by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia.",

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AU - Shaw, Ben

AU - Hillman, Mayer

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A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia

Abstract

Keywords

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