Exploring the relationships between youth motivation and active school travel knowledge and perceived community support: Moderations by gender

Active school travel (AST), walking or human-powered wheeling or rolling to/from school, can contribute to the healthy development of children and teenagers through improved mental and physical health. In response to declining rates of AST participation, one often discussed influence is motivation. However, the impacts of specific motivation types, as well as their potentially discrepant impacts on boys and girls, are poorly understood. The present study is situated within the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and explores how gender moderates the relationship between different forms of motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation; identified, introjected, external regulation) and perceived community support (PCS) for AST and AST knowledge. Using a national-level Canadian sample ( n = 1196) from an online survey of children and teenagers (8–14 years, M age = 10.9), linear regression and moderation analyses were conducted. Central findings of the analyses included boys reporting significantly greater PCS in response to increased intrinsic motivation (β = 0.151, p ≤0.001, 95% CIs = 0.101, 0.201) and identified regulation (β = 0.170, p ≤0.001, 95% CIs = 0.121, 0.219), and an inverse crossover relationship in response to increased intrinsic motivation and identified regulation where boys reported significant declines (e.g., intrinsic motivation: β = −0.026, p = 0.001, 95% CIs = −0.042, −0.010) and girls reported nonsignificant improvements (e.g., intrinsic motivation: β = 0.008, p = 0.342, 95% CIs = −0.009, 0.248) in AST knowledge. It is recommended that future AST interventions consider gender-specific strategies to enhance promotional efforts, and marrying motivation and (built) environmental strategies to support girls' motivation and positive perceptions of AST and, ultimately, their AST engagement. • Active school travel (AST) can be affected by gender and motivational factors. • This study examines AST via the specific interactions between gender and motivation. • A youth survey examined how gender moderates motivation-support and knowledge links. • Changes in motivations (e.g., intrinsic) resulted in significant gender differences. • Multiple gender specific strategies to support AST among girls, boys are discussed.