INTRODUCTION: Despite the health benefits, a large proportion of girls and boys in Europe do not travel to school actively. A better understanding of the correlates associated with this behavior could guide interventions. This study examines perceived social and environmental correlates of active travel to school (ACTS) from the 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in four European countries, with a special emphasis on gender differences (n = 22,023). METHODS: Logistic regression was conducted to analyze associations between the perceived importance of each correlate and ACTS behavior for 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old girls and boys from Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. All models were adjusted for age, family affluence, and meeting World Health Organization recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. RESULTS: Rates of ACTS significantly differed between girls and boys. In Czechia, 65% of girls and boys traveled to school actively, followed by Slovakia (61.4% girls and 58.4% boys), Poland (57.7% girls and 60.2% boys), and Germany (42.6% girls and 48.6% boys). Girls were less likely to actively travel to school compared to boys (odds ratio [OR]: 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87-0.97). Increasing age (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93-0.97) and a greater distance to school index (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88-0.90) were both negatively associated with ACTS. The perceived importance of living closer to school and of road and neighborhood safety was positively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in boys than in girls for neighborhood safety. On the contrary, the perceived importance of having people to walk with was negatively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in girls (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.65-0.84) than in boys (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.66-0.88). DISCUSSION: This study provides insights into perceived social and environmental correlates associated with ACTS behavior. Future research should include gender-specific perceptions and more in-depth investigations of correlates encouraging ACTS, especially considering social aspects, safety issues, and the structuring of the environment in different cultural settings.

CIPER Faculty of Human Kinetics University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal

Department of Child and Adolescent Health Institute of Mother and Child Warsaw Poland

Department of Health Promotion and Development University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Department of Health Psychology and Research Methodology Faculty of Medicine P J Safarik University Košice Slovakia

Department of Humanization in Medicine and Sexology University of Zielona Gora Collegium Medicum Zielona Góra Poland

Department of Natural and Sociological Sciences Heidelberg University of Education Heidelberg Germany

Department of Public and Occupational Health Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute Amsterdam UMC Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands

Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies Faculty of Physical Culture Palacky University Olomouc Olomouc Czechia

Department of Sport Science University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria

Department of Teacher Education NLA University College Bergen Norway

Institute of Mother and Child Foundation Warsaw Poland

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