Convergent Validation of a Self-Reported Commuting to and from School Diary in Spanish Adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the convergent validity of self-reported diary times for commuting to and from school with device-measured positional data (Global Positioning System; GPS) in Spanish adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional data were obtained from four Spanish public secondary schools in 2021, comprising 47 adolescents and 141 home–school and school–home trips. Participants self-reported the time they left and arrived at home and school through a commuting diary. They wore a GPS device recording the objective time during three trips (i.e., one home–school trip and two school–home trips). Agreement between commuting diary and GPS data regarding home–school trips and school–home trips was evaluated using Bland–Altman plots. Results: Total commuting time differed by 1 min (95% limits of agreement were 16.1 min and −18.1 min) between subjective and objective measures (adolescents reported 0.8 more minutes in home–school trips and 1 more minute in school–home trips compared to objective data). Passive commuters reported 0.7 more minutes and active commuters reported 1.2 more minutes in the total commuting time compared to objective data. Conclusions: Self-reported commuting diaries may be a useful tool to obtain commuting times of adolescents in epidemiological research or when tools to measure objective times are not feasible.