. 2022 Apr 28:10:861390.

doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390. eCollection 2022.

Learning to Cycle: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison

Rita Cordovil¹, Cristiana Mercê^{1

2}, Marco Branco^{1

2}, Frederico Lopes³, David Catela⁴, Elina Hasanen⁵, Arto Laukkanen⁵, Patrizia Tortella⁶, Guido Fumagalli⁷, Cristina Sá⁸, Boris Jidovtseff⁹, Linus Zeuwts¹⁰, An De Meester¹¹, Farid Bardid¹², Ricardo Fujikawa¹³, Sanne Veldman^{14

15}, Silvija Zlatar¹⁶, Isaac Estevan¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Humana, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
² Departamento de Atividade Física e Saúde, Escola Superior de Desporto de Rio Maior, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Rio Maior, Portugal.
³ Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ Centro de Investigação em Qualidade de Vida, Escola Superior de Desporto de Rio Maior, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Rio Maior, Portugal.
⁵ Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁶ Department of Art, Music and Movement, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy.
⁷ Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Center for Research on Motor Development in Infancy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁸ Departamento de Ciências Do Movimento Humano, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, Brazil.
⁹ Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
¹⁰ Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
¹¹ Department of Physical Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States.
¹² School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
¹³ Real Centro Universitario Escorial Maria Cristina, Madrid College of Chiropractic, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁴ Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Center (Amsterdam UMC), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁵ Health Behaviour and Chronic Diseases and Methodology, Amsterdam Public Health, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁶ Kindergarten Matije Gupca, Zagreb, Croatia.
¹⁷ AFIPS Research Group, RIIDASS Network, Department of Teaching of Music, Visual and Corporal Expression, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

PMID: 35570950
PMCID: PMC9096157
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390

Learning to Cycle: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison

Rita Cordovil et al. Front Public Health. 2022.

. 2022 Apr 28:10:861390.

doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Humana, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
² Departamento de Atividade Física e Saúde, Escola Superior de Desporto de Rio Maior, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Rio Maior, Portugal.
³ Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ Centro de Investigação em Qualidade de Vida, Escola Superior de Desporto de Rio Maior, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Rio Maior, Portugal.
⁵ Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁶ Department of Art, Music and Movement, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy.
⁷ Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Center for Research on Motor Development in Infancy, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁸ Departamento de Ciências Do Movimento Humano, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, Brazil.
⁹ Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
¹⁰ Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
¹¹ Department of Physical Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States.
¹² School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
¹³ Real Centro Universitario Escorial Maria Cristina, Madrid College of Chiropractic, Madrid, Spain.
¹⁴ Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Center (Amsterdam UMC), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁵ Health Behaviour and Chronic Diseases and Methodology, Amsterdam Public Health, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁶ Kindergarten Matije Gupca, Zagreb, Croatia.
¹⁷ AFIPS Research Group, RIIDASS Network, Department of Teaching of Music, Visual and Corporal Expression, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

PMID: 35570950
PMCID: PMC9096157
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.861390

Abstract

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, $η_{p}^{2}$ = 0.086, and generation, F_(2,8628) = 47.21, p < 0.001, $η_{p}^{2}$ = 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 ( $η_{p}^{2}$ = 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.

Keywords: active travel; children; country; cycling; generation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Mean age to learn how to cycle independently by country. Error bars represent 95% CI.

**Figure 2**
Mean age to learn how to cycle independently by generation. Error bars represent 95% CI.

**Figure 3**
Mean age to learn how to cycle independently by generation and country. Error bars represent 95% CI.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Learning to Cycle: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison

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Learning to Cycle: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison

Authors

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Conflict of interest statement

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