Table 6 Qualitative studies on psychosocial factors among children relating to AST

Confidence in ability

No data retrieved

Attitudes

• Parental attitudes towards active travel varied and could have either a positive or negative influence over their child’s behaviour [44]

• Perceived benefits such as feelings of calmness, being in a good mood, time to think, having fun, socialising, feeling healthy and independent as well as helping the environment were related to active travel to school [25, 37, 44, 91, 93]

Social support

Social support positively related to AST:

• Travelling with friends or parents [44, 83]

• Parental encouragement [83]

• Teachers’ encouragement [94]

• A sense of togetherness [51]

Social norms

Social norms related to AST:

• Parents choosing active transport facilitated AST [83]

• Peers using AST positively related to AST [93]

• Social norms negatively correlated with cycling to school since cycling was considered to be for sporty people due to the hilly landscape for some of the participants in the study by Hopkins and Mandic [37]