A cross-sectional examination of socio-demographic and school-level correlates of children’s school travel mode in Ottawa, Canada

Table 4 Multivariate associations of socio-demographic and school-level factors with children’s engagement in active transportation

Variable	Categories	OR	95% CI	p
Gender	Boys	1.99	1.30-3.03	.002
Gender	Girls	Reference
School travel time	<5 minutes	2.26	1.17-4.37	.015
	5-15 minutes	2.27	1.27-4.03	.006
	>15 minutes	Reference
School language	French	0.71	0.31-1.62	.411
School language	English	Reference
School administrator survey variables
Identify safe routes to school	Yes	1.03	0.52-2.04	.935
Identify safe routes to school	No	Reference
Provides crossing guards	Yes	2.29	1.22-4.30	.010
Provides crossing guards	No	Reference
Crime perceived as problem*	Major/moderate	3.34	1.34-8.32	.010
	Minor	1.19	0.68-2.08	.543
	Not a problem	Reference
School audit variables
Traffic calming measures	Yes	1.06	0.52-2.16	.865
Traffic calming measures	No	Reference
Safe routes to school X Traffic calming interaction	Both yes	7.87	2.85-21.76	<.001
	Both no	Reference

Note: Odds ratios for engaging in active transportation were estimated using generalized linear mixed models adjusted only for school clustering. Only variables that were significantly associated with active school transport in the bivariate models (e.g., Tables 1, 2, 3) were included in the multivariate model. In the empty model, the school ICC was 0.31 (p < 0.001) while in the fully adjusted model, it was 0.01 (p = 0.718). *Denotes that fewer than 5 schools have one of the categories being compared; these results should be interpreted with caution.

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