Perceived Barrier Profiles Associated with Insufficient Physical Activity Among University Students: A Multicountry Decision-Tree Study

Insufficient physical activity (IPA) among university students remains an important public health concern associated with adverse health outcomes. Although barriers to physical activity (PA) are widely documented, less is known about how these barriers cluster within different university contexts and student subgroups. This study examined hierarchical configurations of perceived barriers associated with IPA in a multicountry university sample. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 686 undergraduate students (60.8% women; mean age = 22.4 ± 5.1 years) from Chile, Mexico, Spain, and Italy. Perceived barriers were assessed using the BBAQ-21 and self-reported PA using the IPAQ–Short Form. CART and Exhaustive CHAID decision-tree models were applied to identify subgroup configurations based on cumulative barrier burden. Country-based subsamples and self-reported post-pandemic PA emerged as the principal segmentation variables. The Mexican subsample showed the highest barrier burden. Students reporting increased PA generally clustered within lower-barrier configurations, whereas stable or reduced PA tended to coincide with greater perceived barrier burden. Perceived barriers formed differentiated and context-dependent configurations associated with PA patterns. These findings provide exploratory insight into how barriers cluster within university populations and support more context-aware interpretation of PA-related constraints within higher education settings.