Where, when, how, and with whom do young university students engage in physical activity? A cluster-derived spectrum of patterns across 16 European universities

Young adults are particularly at risk of dropping out of physical activity (PA). European policies have addressed this issue by promoting PA and encouraging better monitoring of PA through standardized and specific measures of its quantity. The current paper used an ecological approach that considers interrelated determinants at the individual, social, environmental, and policy levels to survey 2,165 undergraduate students (65.3% female) aged 18–25 years from 16 universities via an online questionnaire as part of the “How Young People in Europe Move” (HYPEM) project. A cluster analysis of mixed data was performed to identify profiles of sport and PA participation among undergraduates from 12 European countries and to examine their associations with individual and contextual characteristics. The results showed that individual and contextual characteristics were associated with spatial, temporal, social, intensity-related, and equipment-related dimensions of PA participation. Additionally, space, time and equipment were key variables for profiling students. Furthermore, the cluster analysis revealed three typologies of student sports and PA participation: ‘Autonomous’, ‘Networked Supervised’, and ‘Regularly Supervised’. These profiles suggest that undergraduate students engage in PA through various formats, ranging from flexible, self-organized practices to more structured, supervised forms of participation. Differences were also observed across participating institutions, indicating that contextual factors should be considered when interpreting these exploratory profiles. These profiles may help generate hypotheses about how university PA opportunities could be designed and evaluated in future prospective and intervention studies.