TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning to Cycle
T2 - A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison
AU - Cordovil, Rita
AU - Mercê, Cristiana
AU - Branco, Marco
AU - Lopes, Frederico
AU - Catela, David
AU - Hasanen, Elina
AU - Laukkanen, Arto
AU - Tortella, Patrizia
AU - Fumagalli, Guido
AU - Sá, Cristina
AU - Jidovtseff, Boris
AU - Zeuwts, Linus
AU - de Meester, An
AU - Bardid, Farid
AU - Fujikawa, Ricardo
AU - Veldman, Sanne
AU - Zlatar, Silvija
AU - Estevan, Isaac
N1 - Funding Information: Authors would like to thank the following organizations and people for their help in the survey's dissemination: Portuguese Cycling Federation, Estrelas e Ouriços Magazine and the Portuguese Association of Early Childhood Educators (APEI) (Portugal); Valentina La Cava, Daniele Faedda and Claudia Galassi (Italy); Cycling UK (UK); Pyöräliitto ry, Pyöräilykuntien verkosto ry and Jyväskylän Pyöräilyseura JYPS ry (Finland). Funding Information: RC, CM, and MB were partly supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under Grant UIDB/00447/2020 to CIPER—Centro Interdisciplinar para o Estudo da Performance Humana (unit 447); DC was partly supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under project No. UID/CED/04748/2020. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Cordovil, Mercê, Branco, Lopes, Catela, Hasanen, Laukkanen, Tortella, Fumagalli, Sá, Jidovtseff, Zeuwts, De Meester, Bardid, Fujikawa, Veldman, Zlatar and Estevan.
PY - 2022/4/28
Y1 - 2022/4/28
N2 - Background: Learning to cycle is an important milestone for children, but the popularity of cycling and the environmental factors that promote the development and practice of this foundational movement skill vary among cultures and across time. This present study aimed to investigate if country of residence and the generation in which a person was born influence the age at which people learn to cycle. Methods: Data were collected through an online survey between November 2019 and December 2020. For this study, a total of 9,589 responses were obtained for adults (self-report) and children (parental report) living in 10 countries (Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Finland, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Croatia, and the Netherlands). Participants were grouped according to their year of birth with 20-year periods approximately corresponding to 3 generations: 1960–79 (generation X; n = 2,214); 1980–99 (generation Y; n = 3,994); 2000–2019 (generation Z; n = 3,381). Results: A two-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of country, F(9,8628) = 90.17, p < 0.001, (Formula presented.) = 0.086, and generation, F(2,8628) = 47.21, p < 0.001, (Formula presented.) = 0.122, on the age at which individuals learn to cycle. Countries with the lowest learning age were the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and countries with the highest learning age were Brazil and Mexico. Furthermore, the age at which one learns to cycle has decreased across generations. There was also a significant country x generation interaction effect on learning age, F(18,8628) = 2.90, p < 0.001; however, this effect was negligible ((Formula presented.) = 0.006). Conclusions: These findings support the socio-ecological perspective that learning to cycle is a process affected by both proximal and distal influences, including individual, environment and time.
AB - Background: Learning to cycle is an important milestone for children, but the popularity of cycling and the environmental factors that promote the development and practice of this foundational movement skill vary among cultures and across time. This present study aimed to investigate if country of residence and the generation in which a person was born influence the age at which people learn to cycle. Methods: Data were collected through an online survey between November 2019 and December 2020. For this study, a total of 9,589 responses were obtained for adults (self-report) and children (parental report) living in 10 countries (Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Finland, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Croatia, and the Netherlands). Participants were grouped according to their year of birth with 20-year periods approximately corresponding to 3 generations: 1960–79 (generation X; n = 2,214); 1980–99 (generation Y; n = 3,994); 2000–2019 (generation Z; n = 3,381). Results: A two-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of country, F(9,8628) = 90.17, p < 0.001, (Formula presented.) = 0.086, and generation, F(2,8628) = 47.21, p < 0.001, (Formula presented.) = 0.122, on the age at which individuals learn to cycle. Countries with the lowest learning age were the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and countries with the highest learning age were Brazil and Mexico. Furthermore, the age at which one learns to cycle has decreased across generations. There was also a significant country x generation interaction effect on learning age, F(18,8628) = 2.90, p < 0.001; however, this effect was negligible ((Formula presented.) = 0.006). Conclusions: These findings support the socio-ecological perspective that learning to cycle is a process affected by both proximal and distal influences, including individual, environment and time.
KW - active travel
KW - children
KW - country
KW - cycling
KW - generation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130069129&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390
M3 - Article
C2 - 35570950
SN - 2296-2565
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
JF - Frontiers in Public Health
M1 - 861390
ER -