A Study of the Inter-relationship between Parent’s and Children’s Physical Activity Participation Frequency

(PI: Chandra Bhat)

In this research, we will study the question of how the daily frequency of physical activity participations of parents and children are inter-related, and how they are affected by urban form design and the built environment. The results from this research will aid policy makers in developing informed and effective policies that increase physical activity participations of adults and children (especially the children). In addition, an understanding of the dependency between parents’ and children’s activity-travel patterns will be important precursor to developing a good overall activity-based travel modeling system. Finally, the research will shed light on how we might be able to engineer our urban environment to encourage non-motorized modes of travel.

Keywords: Physical activity, family and public health, social dependency, data clustering, activity-based travel analysis