Commuting is often associated with stress. A recent study by the frankfurt university of applied sciences shows that this even has a negative impact on schoolchildren. It surveys around 10,000 schools in 14 federal states every year. In the 2016/17 school year, the focus was on getting to school: according to the study, young people need an average of 27 minutes to get to school. For the majority (30 percent), it takes between 10 and 20 minutes, but around 15 percent need 45 minutes or more. 14 percent need less than 10 minutes to get there.
Young people who have to travel a long way to school are more likely to complain of psychological problems, explains the study’s director prof. Andreas klocke. So just under 30 percent of schools with a long way to school have concentration problems on more than one day a week. For children with a short way to school (less than ten minutes), it is 23 percent.
In addition, young people who have to commute a shorter distance are on average more satisfied with their health. While 83 percent of them rate their health as very good or good, the figure for young people with a long way to school is 77 percent.