Adolescents’ School Travel and Unhealthy Snacking: Associations with School Transport Modes, Neighbourhood Deprivation, and Body Weight

Abstract

Active transport to and/or from school (ATS), alone or combined with motorised transport, provides an opportunity to increase adolescents’ physical activity levels to prevent obe-sity. However, travel through and exposure to an unhealthy food environment en route to school may have unintended consequences, specifically unhealthy snacking. This study examined the association between adolescents’ unhealthy snack food/soft drink purchases/consumption during the journey to and from school and their school transport modes, neighbourhood deprivation, and body weight. Adolescents (n = 660, age: 15.3 ± 1.3 years, 51.7% female) from 11 schools in the Otago region, New Zealand, completed an online survey and anthropometry. Data were analysed using χ2 test and logistic regression. Overall, 36.7% of adolescents purchased/consumed unhealthy snack foods and 25.9% purchased/consumed soft drinks at least once during their weekly school trips. ATS and mixed transport users reported more frequent unhealthy snack food/soft drinks purchases/con-sumption on the way to school than motorised transport users. Neighbourhood deprivation, but not body weight, was positively associated with unhealthy snack food/soft drink purchases/con-sumption during the school journey. Our findings highlight the importance of considering not only travel mode shift but also the obesogenic environment and unhealthy food/drinks purchases/con-sumption during adolescents’ school journeys, particularly in lower socio-economic areas, to prevent obesity.