Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Children’s travel to school: satisfaction, current mood, and cognitive performance

Transportation volume 44, pages 1365–1382 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

We investigate whether travel mode, travel time, and activities during travel influence children’s satisfaction with their travel to school, their current mood, and their cognitive performance after arriving at school. A sample of 344 children (165 girls) between the ages of 10 and 15 years were recruited at five public schools in Värmland County, Sweden. Directly after arriving at school, the children rated how they felt on two scales ranging from very sad to very happy and from very tired to very alert, filled out the Satisfaction with Travel Scale adapted for children (STS-C), reported details about their journeys, and took a word-fluency test. The results for STS-C showed that traveling by school bus and walking or cycling was experienced as having a higher quality than traveling by car. Children who engaged in conversation during their journeys reported a higher quality and more positive feelings than children who were engaged in solitary activities during their journeys. A shorter journey was experienced as having a higher quality and resulting in more positive feelings. Children traveling for longer durations performed better in the word-fluency test if using their smartphones or doing a combination of activities during their journeys.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Notes

  1. For further information about word fluency tests, see Cohen and Stanczak (2000) and Ruff et al. (1997).

  2. The effects of sex and grade are reported only once for each dependent variable since the results were close to identical in all the analyses.

References

  • Barker, J.: Driven to distraction?: Children’s experiences of car travel. Mobilities 4, 59–76 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrel, A., Mishalani, R.G., Sengupta, R., Walker, J.L.: In pursuit of the happy transit rider: dissecting satisfaction using daily surveys and tracking data. J. Intell. Transp. Syst. (2016). doi:10.1080/1547245020161149699

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M.J., Stanczak, D.E.: On the reliability, validity, and cognitive structure of the Thurstone Word Fluency Test. Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 15(3), 267–279 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L.S., van Wouwe, N.C., Lavender, T.J., Hommel, B.: Intelligence and cognitive flexibility: fluid intelligence correlates with feature “unbinding” across perception and action. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 13(6), 1043–1048 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A.R., Wedderkopp, N., Wang, H., Andersen, L.B., Froberg, K., Page, A.S.: Active travel to school and cardiovascular fitness in Danish children and adolescents. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 38(10), 1724–1731 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R.E.: Subjective emotional well-being. In: Lewis, M., Haiviland, J.M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotion, 2nd edn, pp. 325–337. Guilford Press, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • Davison, K.K., Werder, J.L., Lawson, C.T.: Children’s active commuting to school: current knowledge and future directions. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 5(3), 1–11 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ettema, D., Friman, M., Gärling, T., Olsson, L.E., Fujii, S.: How in-vehicle activities affect work commuters’ satisfaction with public transport. J. Transp. Geogr. 24, 215–222 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G.W., Wener, R.E.: Rail commuting duration and passenger stress. Health Psychol. 25(3), 408–412 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friman, M., Edvardsson, B., Gärling, T.: Frequency of negative critical incidents and satisfaction with public transport services. I. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 8(2), 95–104 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friman, M., Fujii, S., Ettema, D., Gärling, T., Olsson, L.E.: Psychometric analysis of the satisfaction with travel scale. Transp. Res. Part A Policy Pract. 48, 132–145 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, C.S., Bavelier, D.: Action videogames modify visual attention. Nature 423, 534–537 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, C.S., Bavelier, D.: Effects of video game playing on the spatial distribution of visual selective attention. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 32, 465–478 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, C.S., Bavelier, D.: Action video experience alters the spatial resolution of vision. Psychol. Sci. 18, 88–94 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, L.A., Witt, E.A., Games, A.I., Fitzgerald, H.E., von Eye, A., Zhao, Y.: Information technology use and creativity: findings from the children and technology project. Comput. Human Behav. 28, 370–376 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, A., Steinbach, R., Roberts, H., Goodman, A., Green, J.: Re-thinking passive transport: bus fare exemptions and young people’s wellbeing. Health Place 18(3), 605–612 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirmil-Gray, K., Eagleston, J.R., Gibson, E., Thoresen, C.E.: Sleep disturbance in adolescents: sleep quality, sleep habits, beliefs about sleep, and daytime functioning. J. Youth Adolesc. 13(5), 375–385 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, R.W., Richards, M.H.: Changes in daily emotions associated with entry into adolescence for urban African Americans. Paper presented at the biannual meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Beijing (2000)

  • Larson, R.W., Moneta, G., Richards, M.H., Wilson, S.: Continuity, stability, and change in daily emotional experience across adolescence. Child Dev. 73(49), 1151–1165 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Gómez, D., Ruiz, J.R., Martínez-Gómez, S., Chillo, P., L’opez, P.R., Díaz, L.E., Castillo, R., Veiga, O.L., Marcos, A.: Active commuting to school and cognitive performance in adolescents. The AVENA study. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 165, 300–305 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, N.C.: Children’s travel patterns and influences. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Carolina, Berkley. http://uctc.its.berkeley.edu/research/diss118.pdf (2005). Accessed 10 Sept 2015

  • McDonald, N.C., McGrane, A.B., Rodgman, E.A., Steiner, R.L., Palmer, W.M., Lytle, B.F.: Assessing multimodal school travel safety in North Carolina. Accid. Anal. Prev. 74, 126–132 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMillan, T.: The relative influence of urban form on a child’s travel mode to school. Transp. Res. Part A Policy Pract. 41, 69–79 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merom, D., Tudor-Locke, C., Bauman, A., Rissel, C.: Active commuting to school among NSW primary school children: implications for public health. Health Place 12(4), 678–687 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf, B., Voss, L., Jeffrey, A., Perkins, J., Wilkin, T.: Physical activity cost of the school run: impact on schoolchildren of being driven to school. BMJ 329, 832–833 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mokhtarian, P.L., Salomon, I.: How derived is the demand for travel? Some conceptual and measurement considerations. Transp. Res. Part A Policy Pract. 35(8), 695–719 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura, K.K., Galanter, J.M., Roth, L.A., Oh, S.S., Thakur, N., Nguyen, A., Burchard, G.: Early-life air pollution and asthma risk in minority children. The GALA II and SAGE II studies. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 188(3), 309–318 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, M., Jones, D., Sloan, D., Rustin, M.: Children’s independent spatial mobility in the urban public realm. Childhood 7, 257–277 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson, L.E., Gärling, T., Ettema, D., Friman, M., Fujii, S.: Happiness and satisfaction with work commute. Soc. Indic. Res. 111, 255–263 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Østergaard, L., Grøntved, A., Børrestad, L.A., Froberg, K., Gravesen, M., Andersen, L.B.: Cycling to school is associated with lower BMI and lower odds of being overweight or obese in a large population-based study of Danish adolescents. J. Phys. Act. Health. 9(5), 617–625 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pipher, M.: Reviving Ophelia: saving the selves of adolescent girls. Putnam, New York (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, J., Russell, J.A., Gerber, A., Gorman, D., Colibazzi, T., Yu, S., Wang, Z., Kangarlu, A., Zhu, H., Peterson, B.S.: The neurophysiological bases of emotion: an fMRI study of the affective circumplex using emotion-denoting words. Human Brain Mapp. 30, 883–895 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, M.A., Millett, C.J., Mindell, J.S.: The contribution of active travel (walking and cycling) in children to overall physical activity levels: a national cross sectional study. Prev. Med. 54(2), 134–139 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, J.R., Ortega, F.B., Castillo, R., Martín-Martillas, M., Vicente-Rodríguez, G., Noriega, J., Tercedor, P., Sjöström, M., Moreno, L.A.: Physical activity, fitness weight status, and cognitive performance in adolescents. J. Pediatr. 157(6), 917–922 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruff, R.M., Light, R.H., Parker, S.B., Levin, H.S.: The psychological construct of word fluency. Brain Lang. 57(3), 394–405 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J.A.: A circumplex model of affect. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 39(6), 1161–1178 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J.A.: Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychol. Rev. 110, 145–172 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Sweden.: http://www.scb.se/en_/Finding-statistics/ (2016). Accessed 9 Nov 2015

  • Subrahmanyam, K., Smahel, D., Greenfield, P.: Connecting developmental constructions to the Internet: identity presentation and sexual exploration in online teen chat rooms. Dev. Psychol. 42, 395–406 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swedo, S. E., Pleeter, J. D., Richter, D. M., Hoffman, C. L.: Rates of seasonal affective disorder in children and adolescents. Am. J. Psychiatry 152, 1016–1019 (1995)

  • Trudeau, F., Shephard, R.J.: Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act. 5, 10 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tynjälä, J., Kannas, L., Välimaa, R.: How young Europeans sleep. Health Educ. Res. 8, 69–80 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rooy, D.: Effects of automobile commute characteristics on affect and job candidate evaluations: a field experiment. Environ. Behav. 38(5), 626–655 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wachs, M., Taylor, B.D., Levine, N., Ong, P.: The changing commute: a case-study of the jobs-housing relationship over time. Urban Stud. 30(10), 1711–1729 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, D., Xiang, Z., Fesenmaier, D.R.: Smartphone use in everyday life and travel. J. Travel Res. (2014). doi:10.1177/0047287514535847

    Google Scholar 

  • Westman, J., Johansson, M., Olsson, L.E., Mårtensson, F., Friman, M.: Children’s affective experience of every-day travel. J. Transp. Geogr. 29, 95–102 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yik, M.S.M., Russell, J.A., Feldman Barrett, L.: Structure of self-reported current affect: integration and beyond. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 77, 600–619 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, W., Morris, J.: Evaluation by individuals of their travel time to work. Transp. Res. Rec. 794, 51–59 (1981)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Financial support for this research was obtained through Grant (#2014-05335) from the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Jessica Westman, Lars E. Olsson & Margareta Friman

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Tommy Gärling

Authors
  1. Jessica Westman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lars E. Olsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tommy Gärling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Margareta Friman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica Westman.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5, 6 and 7.

Table 5 Satisfaction with travel
Full size table
Table 6 Current mood
Full size table
Table 7 Cognitive performance
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Westman, J., Olsson, L.E., Gärling, T. et al. Children’s travel to school: satisfaction, current mood, and cognitive performance. Transportation 44, 1365–1382 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-016-9705-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-016-9705-7

Keywords

search

Navigation