Wong et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:618 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/618 Environmental Travelled to school 0-15 minutes 16-30 minutes ≥31 minutes Travelled from school 0-15 minutes 16-30 minutes ≥31 minutes Living in urban area Rural Urban Regions Toronto North West East Changing school in the last five years No Yes 1 0.32* 0.32* - - - - - 1 3.79* 1 0.52 0.66 0.26** Table 5 Individual, behavioural, psycho-social, and environmental correlates of mode shift (Continued) 0.11-0.94 0.11-0.95 1 0.11*** 0.07*** 0.03-0.40 0.02-0.29 - - - 1.14- 12.60 0.17-1.59 0.27-1.60 0.10-0.66 1 3.58* 1 0.65 0.85 0.42 1 0.38** 0.10*** 1 1.79** 1.87** 1 5.60** 1 1.48* 1.00- 12.90 - 0.19-2.21 - 0.29-2.48 - 0.15-1.19 - 1 0.16*** 0.03*** 1 4.32*** 10.49*** 1 3.24* 0.21-0.67 0.03-0.27 1.23-2.60 1.23-2.85 1.97- 15.89 - - - 1 1.04-2.10 1.43 Page 9 of 12 0.09-0.30 0.01-0.10 2.82-6.60 6.44- 17.09 1.18-8.85 0.96-2.10 *** p < 0.001;** p < 0.01;* p < 0.05 OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval. The unadjusted and adjusted ORs and CIs of variables only included in the final models are reported in this table. per week (ORele = 1.11 and 95% CI: 0.62-2.00 and ORsec = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.45-1.21). Discussion This study examined i) the prevalence and correlates of active transport to and from school separately and ii) the correlates of mode shift from passive in the morning to active in the afternoon. In terms of the first purpose, the overall prevalence of walking/biking to and from school was 23% and 32%, respectively, for secondary school students and correspondingly 38% and 47% for elementary school students which is higher than that typically reported in the USA [12,18,19,30,31], similar to Australia [32] and New Zealand [33] but lower than European countries [34-36]. The overall prevalence is also consistent with Canadian literature [4,7,8]. The pre- valence of active school transport also varied across regions. In the present study, the highest prevalence was found in Toronto. This is perhaps not unexpected given the proliferation of neighbourhood schools within neigh- bourhoods established throughout the 19th century, the pre-automobile era. Such neighbourhoods would be characterised by a gridded street network and diverse and highly dense land use that facilitates non-motorised travel modes. There was a higher prevalence of walking/biking either to or from school found for elementary school students than for secondary school students. Elementary schools may be located closer to students’ homes, in our data, elementary school students had significantly shorter tra- vel times than secondary school students (analysis not shown). Different correlates of active school transport were also found across elementary and secondary school students. In secondary school students, not working a part-time job, being male, and being physically active were positively correlated with active school transport whereas higher parental education, having a car(s), and poorer perceived health were negatively associated with active school transport in elementary school students. To the best of our knowledge, the addition of decision making as a correlate has not been assessed before. This is an important correlate of active school transport in this sample. This supports the hypothesis of Panter et al. [17] that parents, the key decision makers, may be influenced by children’s opinions when making a travel mode choice. Being involved in the decision making process on school travel mode may reflect both inde- pendent mobility and a positive attitude towards walk- ing/biking to school which have been suggested to increase the likelihood of active school transport [14,15,37,38]. These data provide an interesting direction for interventions in actively engaging students as advo- cates for active modes of school transport. Child and youth involvement in school travel decision making may also be influenced by parental concern about safety issues and their trust in the spatial and other capabilities