Objective: To examine the association between environmental, social, and personal
factors and cycling for transportation among university students. Methods: Five
hundred and thirty-eight university students participated in the questionnaire study.
Multi-nominal regression analysis was applied to identify associations between
independent variables and cycling behavior. Results: Forty-one percent of the
students were regular cyclists and 15% irregular cyclists. Regular cycling was
negatively associated with the perception of traffi c safety and positively associated
with high safety from bicycle theft, many friends cycling to the university,
high emotional satisfaction, little physiological effort, and high mobility. Irregular
cycling was positively related with environmental attractiveness and little physiological
effort. Conclusions: Improving bicycle parking security and promoting
peer support for and positive psychological experiences and convenient mobility
of cycling may increase this transport mode among university students.
Key Words: physical activity, bicycling, environment, public health, Europe