Environmental vs psychosocial barriers to active commuting to university: which matters more? Palma Leal, Ximena Alejandra Camiletti-Moirón, Daniel Izquierdo-Gómez, R. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, F. Chillón Garzón, Palma Physical activity Environment University students Transportation Chile Spain Objectives The aims of this study were (1) to examine the differences in the mode of commuting and barriers to active commuting to university between the sexes (men and women) and in different countries (Chile and Spain); and (2) to analyse the association between the mode of commuting and the perceived barriers for male and female university students in Chile and Spain. Study design This cross-sectional study took place between April 2017 and May 2018 in Chile and Spain. Methods The study population included 2269 university students (53.0% women). The mode of commuting and barriers to active commuting to university were assessed by a self-reported questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations. Results In both sexes, public and private transport were the main modes of commuting used in Chile and Spain, respectively, followed by active commuting in all participants, except for female students in Spain. Women perceived more environmental and psychosocial barriers compared to men (Chile: P < 0.001; Spain: P = 0.006). Perceived environmental barriers showed higher significant differences between students in Chile and Spain (P < 0.05). Private commuters reported a larger proportion of psychosocial barriers compared to active commuters (Chile: men P = 0.001, women P < 0.001; Spain: men P < 0.001, women P = 0.036). Conclusions The study findings suggest that the mode of commuting and the barriers to active commuting to university may be influenced by sex and country. 2023-09-14T10:23:34Z 2023-09-14T10:23:34Z 2023-09 journal article X. Palma-Leal, D. Camiletti-Moirón, R. Izquierdo-Gómez et al. Environmental vs psychosocial barriers to active commuting to university: which matters more? Public Health 222 (2023) 85-91. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.06.039] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/84427 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.06.039 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Elsevier