Marketing active transportation to school to improve children's health: Utilizing parental perspectives from an inner-city environment.

Thirty years ago, nearly half of the children in the United States walked or rode their bikes to school. Today, less than 15% of children actively commute to school. With the growing obesity epidemic, encouraging children to walk or bike to school has become a national priority. This research examines factors that influence parental decisions allowing their children to walk to school in an urban environment to identify effective marketing and communication strategies to reach those parents. Results indicate differences in parental perspectives across populations; suggestions for effectively marketing the Safe Routes to School program to minority populations are provided.