A Multilevel Examination of School and Student Characteristics Associated with Moderate and High Levels of Physical Activity Among Elementary School Students (Ontario, Canada) (Quantitative Research) (Report‪)‬

Physical inactivity is associated with an increased risk for chronic illnesses. (1) Current data indicate that 87% of Canadian youth do not meet the Canadian physical activity (PA) guidelines. (2) Lower levels of PA have contributed to the rising prevalence of youth obesity in Canada in the last two decades. (3,4) Increasing the PA levels of Canadian youth is an important public health challenge. Most existing PA interventions assume that PA is self-determined by an individual, (5) despite ecological models suggesting there are reciprocal influences between the individual and the environment in which they are situated. (6,7) To increase PA at the population level, a better understanding of environmental influences on PA is required. Schools are an important environment for PA promotion since school-based PA accounts for up to 40% of total activity among youth populations. (8) Numerous school-based PA interventions have been targeted to individual students, yet such programs tend to produce only modest effects. (9,10) More recently, interventions have targeted characteristics of the school environment. Significant between-school variability in PA exists (11-16) and studies have begun to identify school characteristics that explain that variability (e.g., having PA facilities on school grounds (13,15,16)). Additional research is needed to examine how school policies and programs are associated with PA among students.