Active transportation and bullying in Canadian schoolchildren: a cross-sectional study

Bullying has been recognized as an important problem among child populations internationally [1]. Bullying can be defined in various manners, with a traditional definition being “a deliberate, repeated or long-term exposure to negative acts performed by a person or group of persons regarded as having a higher social status than the victim”, [1] and another “acts of using direct or indirect physical and verbal tactics to distress or control another” [2]. In a recent cross-national study of mainly European and North American countries, reports of recent engagement in bullying behaviours among young people aged 11–15 years ranged from 9% to 13% for victimization, and 8% to 12% for perpetration [3]. Dependent upon the age group under study, up to one-third of youth reported recent victimization due to bullying, with reported proportions highest within the youngest age groups [1]. These may be underestimates: a recent systematic review summarized the prevalence of bullying across 80 studies that reported rates for cyber and traditional perpetration, cyber and traditional victimization, or both among adolescents [4]. Mean prevalence rates were 35% for traditional bullying involvement and 15% for cyber bullying.

Adult supervision is a major protective factor for all forms of child bullying [5]. Compared to same-age peers, adults are more likely to intervene in bullying episodes [6]. Lower levels of adult supervision and inadequate monitoring are therefore related to increased risks for aggressive behaviour among young people. Settings chosen for bullying episodes include locations where children transport themselves to and from school. Approximately 30% of youth report being victimized by bullying in such settings, [7] and efforts to bolster supervision have been made in interventions programs as a means to reduce bullying in school facilities, on school grounds during break periods, on school buses, and on routes where children are transported to and from schools.e.g., [6,8].

Reported engagement by students in active forms of transportation, such as walking and cycling to school, are declining in North America [9,10]. This is a cause for concern as these methods of transportation are forms of physical activity that can contribute to improved health [10]. Boys who engage in active transportation to school have a lower body mass index, are fitter, and engage in more physical activity compared to those who did not [10]. While programs exist to encourage active transportation practices, [11] fears of violence and worries about bullying may reduce participation, because children and their parents are afraid of verbal, physical and relational attacks in unsupervised contexts when they are transporting themselves to school [12,13]. In addition, associations between engagement in active transportation and heightened experiences with bullying, however, have rarely been studied and not been verified in population-based studies.

To address these gaps in the public health literature, we had a unique opportunity to examine bullying as a potential consequence of active transportation in a national sample of Canadian school children. Our hope was that evidence from this study might contribute to health promotion efforts aimed at the optimization of health in populations of young people.

When we examined facilitators and barriers to active transportation to school, “worrying about being bullied or attacked on the way to school” was identified as an impediment by 68.0% of the study population, and especially by girls and younger students (73.5% and 74.1%, respectively). Such fears were also reported for those who reporting using other modes of transportation, with 71% who used public transportation reporting such worries, and 69.9% who used other motorized/private modes of transportation.

This study identified relationships between engagement in active transportation to school and episodes of bullying among young urban Canadians who lived within 1 mile of their school and were not eligible for school bussing. It also documented common and negative perceptions of young people surrounding their risks of being bullied while walking or biking to school. We found that a large percentage of young people (68%; 74% in girls) are worried about being bullied in active transportation environments. If young people or their parents respond to these perceptions by finding other transportation options, such as being driven in a family automobile, this is a key barrier to engagement in active transportation.

There have been considerable recent efforts to increase the engagement of young people in active modes of transportation as a general health promotion strategy [10,11]. Such initiatives have inherent value as one component of a multi-faceted approach to addressing the obesity and physical inactivity challenges that are pervasive in modern society, especially among child populations. Implementation of active transportation strategies need, however, to consider both their positive and negative potential effects. In addition to the positive effects of physical activity, [10,11] past studies have suggested, for example, potential increases in bicycling injury, [17] pedestrian injury, [17] impaired lung function (in adults), [31] as well as episodes of violence [12,13] in association with active transportation. A 2009 systematic review examining environmental correlates of children’s active transportation identified eight studies where parents concerns about child safety (including bullying) influenced decision-making around active transportation; statistically significant declines in engagement in active transportation were identified in 3/8 studies, with the remainder showing no effect [32].

However, the literature suggests that most reported negative effects have been modest in strength, and are counterbalanced by the many positive influences of active transportation on physical health.

Strengths of this analysis include the contemporary importance of the study questions to the physical activity and also general public health literatures. The size and national scope of our urban sample are also notable. We profiled the nature of bullying potentially associated with active transportation in a comprehensive manner, and we view our findings as novel within the Canadian health promotion literature.

The HBSC study is limited by its cross-sectional nature, which suggests the need for caution in the interpretation of the temporality of observed relationships. In the cases were we observed relations between active transportation and bullying, we cannot be definite as to whether the proposed active transportation exposure preceded the bullying outcome, or whether the exposure was a consequence of the outcome (reverse causality). It is also based upon self-reports that are subject to recall error and social desirability biases, especially for behaviours such as bullying that are measured subjectively. Our study also focused on an urban sub-sample of the full national study population with no access to school bussing, and findings might not be generalizable to other jurisdictions and geographic contexts. Because of the nature of this sample, we also did not apply sampling weights during our analyses nor account for the overall clustered nature of the sampling design via design effects or multi-level methods; confidence intervals may therefore be slightly narrower than their true values.

Evidence provided by this population-based analysis does inform the development and refinement of health promotion programs and associated health policy. Our findings suggest that the majority of Canadian young people in grades 6–10 in urban settings who live in close proximity to their school actually do engage in active transportation to school, most often by walking. This is a positive finding - perhaps even one to celebrate. Yet, it is sobering to observe that the majority of young people also report fears about being bullied or attacked as a potential impediment to active transportation, with such fears being higher in more vulnerable groups, those being girls and younger students. This was accompanied by a statistically significant increase in the relative odds of victimization, indicating that these fears are not unfounded. It is important to note, however, that these effects were modest in size and mainly limited to verbal bullying alone. Still, if youth are taking public transportation and family vehicles as an alternative to active transportation due to fear of bullying, alleviation of such concerns through a reduction of bullying could improve participation in active travel. This is in addition to the need to address bullying as an unacceptable social behaviour among young people in general, regardless of the mode of transportation used to transport them to school.

Our findings suggest that bullying and fear of bullying are pervasive phenomena in urban Canadian settings. Yet, there is little that is unique about such active transportation environments that should enable such behaviours and associated fears that would not present in other settings or for other modes of transportation, with the exception of private vehicle transport. Increases in relative odds of bullying were modest, and limited to a single type of bullying. We conclude that school-based programs and policies should continue to promote active methods of transportation, with guarded consideration and prevention of the potential negative effects of such programs in terms of associated bullying behaviours.