Abstract
Physical activity (PA) levels are lower than recommended among adolescents globally. Using active transport modes to and from school (ATS) (solely or combined with motorised transport) can increase PA levels in adolescents. However, travelling through an obesogenic environment during the school journey may increase health-related harms, such as the purchase and consumption of unhealthy snack food (e.g., sweets, chips, or ice cream) and soft drinks. This study investigated whether adolescents’ unhealthy snacking behaviour was associated with school transport modes and the food environment along routes to school and around schools.
Adolescents (n=1795) from all 12 secondary schools in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand participated in an online survey. Of those, 883 adolescents (aged 15.1±1.4 years, 51.1% girls) with valid sociodemographic characteristics, school transport modes, and food habits data were included in this analysis. Objective measures of food outlets using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were generated for: (1) adolescents’ estimated shortest school route, and (2) within 500 m and 1000 m school neighbourhood buffers. Food outlet data were retrieved using Google Places API (Application Programming Interface).
Overall, 22.5% and 42.5% of participants had unhealthy snacks at least once per week on their way to, or from, school, respectively. The proportion of adolescents who had unhealthy snacks differed significantly by both transport modes to school (mixed/ATS/motorised: 28.6%/21.2%/18.8%, P<0.05, and from school (48.4%/35.5%/42.1%, P<0.05). Differences in the proportion of adolescents who had unhealthy snacks during the school journey were also found when compared by home neighbourhood deprivation (high/mid/low: 29.3%/23.3%/18.6%, P<0.05) and by gender (girls/boys: 46.8%/38.1%, P<0.05). Food outlet measures in the school neighbourhood, but not on the estimated school route, were significantly associated with unhealthy snacking during the school journey.
In conclusion, adolescents’ unhealthy snacking during the school journey was related to individual characteristics and transport behaviour, but was only partially associated with environmental factors. Further research could usefully explore the mechanism of how school transport modes is related to unhealthy snacking during the school journey.