On the Relation Between the School Journey and Social and Emotional Adjustment in Rural Infant Children*

S ummary . 883 children from 57 rural primary schools were assessed by their teachers on ten dimensions of personality. Comparisons between children with (a) short walking, (b) long walking, (c) short transport, and (d) long transport journeys to school showed differences for individual traits and for a combined index, suggesting a relationship between long journeys and maladjustment. For approximately equal times, transport journeys are associated with poorer adjustment than walking journeys. Boys in the sample show poorer adjustment than girls and greater differences for length of journey. The apparent effect lessens with age in respect of walking but not of transport journeys. The evidence is discussed in relation to explanatory hypotheses of ‘family difference,’ fatigue and maternal separation. It is concluded that the latter is most in accord with the data. In particular, it is concluded that the effect of school journeys should be studied through the child's perception of his mother's accessibility, a variable linking maternal separation with maternal deprivation.