Do environmental attitudes predict perceived active school travel barriers, facilitators, and motivations among youth? Evidence from a national Canadian survey

Active school travel (AST; e.g., cycling/walking to/from school) has many potential benefits, yet participation rates are low in many countries. Little is known regarding how the environmental attitudes of youth influence their beliefs and motivations regarding AST. This paper examines the relationships between pro-ecological and dominant social paradigm (DSP; e.g., belief in human exceptionalism) attitudes and the likelihood of reporting different perceived AST barriers, facilitators, and parental/guardian controls among youth, as well as how these attitudes impact different forms of motivation (i.e., external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic regulation) related to AST. Logistic and linear regression analyses of a national-level online survey (n = 1193) of Canadian 8–14 year olds were conducted. Divergences were observed with respect to each analysis of perceived barriers, facilitators, and parental controls, as well as motivations for AST. Mixed findings were found regarding perceived barriers and facilitators; for example, differences were observed regarding the likelihood of perceiving road safety barriers with increases in pro-ecological perspectives being significantly more likely than increases in DSP views to report barriers such as ‘drivers speeding’. Consistent divergent trends were found regarding perceived parental controls and types of motivation for AST. For instance, environment-related parental controls like ‘allowed to cycle on main roads’, and motivations like external regulation, were significantly associated with increases in DSP beliefs but not in response to changes in pro-ecological perspectives. Findings suggest that increases in pro-ecological attitudes tend to predict more perceived barriers to AST and greater intrinsic motivation to engage in AST—trends that are not mirrored in changes among DSP views. Future studies are encouraged to explore other environmental attitudes (e.g., consumption behavior, pollution reduction practices) to compare to our findings. • Active school travel (AST), the behaviour, is linked to socio-environmental factors. • Environmental attitudes and AST barrier, enabler, motivation links are understudied. • A national child/teen survey assessed how such attitudes affect AST perceptions. • Pro-ecological attitudes may predict some AST barriers, facilitators, motivations. • Encouraging pro-ecological attitudes could be a strategy to encourage youth AST.