Parents’ Travel Mode Choice for Their Children’s Leisure Trips

-The Role of Trust

Maria JohanssonEnvironmental Psychology Unit

Lund Institute of TechnologyBox 118 SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

E-mail: Maria.Johansson@mpe.lth.se

Research Question

To what extent is parents’ motives of travel mode

choice to their children’s leisure activities due to

environmental factors and how much is it related

to parental factors?

A Model of Human-Environment Interaction

Küller, 1991, 2004

The Theoretical Departure

BASIC EMOTIONAL

PROCESS

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES

ACTIVITIES

TRAVEL MODE CHOICE

Child’s leisure trips

REC

UR

REN

T VA

RIA

TION

BASIC EMOTIONAL

PROCESS

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES

ACTIVITIES

TRAVEL MODE CHOICE

Env trust

Interpersonal trust

Need of protection

Attitude towards travel mode

Demographics & resources

Child’s leisure trips

REC

UR

REN

T VA

RIA

TION

Traffic environment

Walk & cycle paths

Maintenance

Sense of community

CHILD´S

Age, gender & maturity

Participants

Parents of 357 children aged 8-11 years

m=9:6 years, 177 girls and 180 boys

86% of the households owned at least one car

Procedure

• Parental questionnaire

• One-week travel diary for children’s trips

• Expert assessments of the physical environment in 14 neighbourhoods

Collected Data

ITEMS RESPONSE FORMAT INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Child Age, gender Maturity 5 4-point Likert scale, strongly disagree-strongly agree Physical environment

Expert assessments of 14 neighbourhoods

Quality of traffic env Quality of walk and cycle paths Maintenance Social environment Sense of community in neighbourhood

6 8 6

6

4-point Likert scale 4-point Likert scale 4-point Likert scale 4-point Likert scale

Parent’s individual resources Socio-demographics

Age, gender, edu, income level, access to car etc.

Environmental trust 4 4-point Likert scale Trust in road users 4 4-point Likert scale Trust in strangers 4 4-point Likert scale Need of protection 5 4-point Likert scale Environmental concern 1 4-point Likert scale Attitude towards leisure activities 1 Disagree/agree DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Attitude towards travel mode 9 7-graded semantic scales Travel mode choice One week travel diary

Lund, Gunnesbo

Lund, Klostergården

Lund, Landskapsgatorna

Malmö, Söderkulla

Malmö, Eriksfält

Malmö, Fågelbacken

Dimensions of Trust1. Trust in strangers

M=1.86, SD=.73, Cronbach’s alpha=.85

2. Trust in road usersM=1.74, SD=.64, Cronbach’s alpha=.76

3. Environmental trust M=1.90, SD=.66 Cronbach’s alpha=.63

Attitude scale Factor I Factor II Factor III Child is given a ride in a car

.90

Child gets lift as part of carpool scheme .89 Child takes a bus with adult .63 Child takes bus on his/her own .69 Child cycles on his/her own .78 Child walks on his/her own .78 Child walks with friends/siblings .57 .51 Child cycles with adult .83 Child walks with adult

.74

Proportion of total variance (66.05) 24.11 22.97 18.97

Parents’ Attitudes Towards Travel Modes

Children’s Travel to Leisure activities

83% of the children had made trips to organised leisure activities (M=4 trips per week).

50% of the destinations were located within or close to the neighbourhood.

92% of the destinations were located within the city.

71% of the trips, the parent had decided upon the travel mode.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Indepedenttravel

Adult company

Motorisedtransport

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Indepedenttravel

Adult company

Motorisedtransport

Attitude towards travel modes for children’s trips

Travel mode choice for children’s leisure activities

Explaining travel mode choiceby environmental and parental factors

Explaining Travel Mode Choice to Leisure Activities with

Environmental and Parental Factors

BASIC EMOTIONAL

PROCESS

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES

ACTIVITIES

- Attitude towards indepedent travel

+ Access to cars

Child’s leisure trips

MOTORISED TRANSPORTS

- Quality of traffic environment

BASIC EMOTIONAL

PROCESS

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL RESOURCES

ACTIVITIES

+ Attitude towards indepedent travel

-Trust in road users

-Access to cars

Child’s leisure trips

INDEPENDENT TRAVEL

+ Quality of traffic environment

A Positive Attitude Towards Independent Travel

+ Environmental trust

+ Child’s age

+ Trust in road users

- Parent’s need of protection

•Children have very little influence on the choice of travel mode for their leisure trips.

•Parents express a favourable attitude towards motorised transports and children frequently travel by car to their leisure activities.

•Continue the efforts to improve the traffic environment.

•Target the parents’ attitude towards independent travel.

Conclusions