An Investigation of the Body Mass Index and Body Fat Percentage of Students Commuting to School Using Three Different Travel Modes

Abstract

The study’s purpose was to conduct a comparison of selected physiological measures among students who commute to school via three different modes of transportation (Bicycling, Walking, and Motor Vehicles). Initially, a total of 600 school-going boys (N = 600) were chosen as study participants. Class VIII to XII grade school male students aged 14 to 18 years were purposefully selected as study subjects from seven secondary schools in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India. Each group had 200 participants: N = 200 for walking, N = 200 for bicycling, and N = 200 for motor vehicles. A category-wise number of subjects were selected from the different schools. The data was calculated by descriptive statistics. For all independent variables, which were computed by using SPSS, one way ANOVA test followed by t-tests were used. As a result, students traveling to school by motor vehicle, as non-active commuters, had a significantly higher Body Mass Index (21.81) and percent Body Fat (16.03) than the other two active commuters, namely the walking and bicycling groups. According to current researchers, students who commute from their homes to school each day may use walking as their main form of transportation. The researchers also concur that if the school is reasonably close to the home, walking is a great form of transportation for students.