Projects per year
Abstract
This PhD thesis presents three complementary studies that aimed to enhance knowledge of young
people’s longitudinal mobility trends and the factors influencing adolescents’ future mobility
intentions. First study was an analysis of Danish national travel survey data (TU) from 1995 to
2012. The sample consisted of young people divided into four age groups: 15-19 year old, 20-24
year old, 25-29 year old and 30-34 year old. The analysis explores the development of gender gaps
for rural and urban living location. The mobility indicators analysed were; driving licence status,
travel mode, distance travelled, number of trips, duration travelled and purpose of trips. The
findings show that driving licence holding has increased, in particular for females in urban areas
and car accessibility has increased sharply in rural areas. The development licensure rate is
somewhat unique as it is in contrast to mainstream trends for many countries. However, since
females bear the majority of this increase, it can be seen as sign of increased gender equity as the
gender gap is near closed for the groups in question. The gender gaps have narrowed or closed in
many cases over the time period explored, but where there is a gender related gap in transport
behaviour, the gap progresses across age groups and is different for rural and urban areas. The
convergence trends are in line with mainstream trends but there is still a pattern of gendered
mobilities observable for the older groups. The findings highlight that gender is still an important
subject in transportation research and future development for young people should be monitored
closely.
The second study was an internet based survey with the aim to explore a range of mediating
factors influencing 15 year old adolescents’ intentions to commute by means of car or bicycle in
the future. This study employed structural equation modelling (SEM) in order to statistically test
the proposed theoretical behavioural framework, which was inspired by the Theory of planned
behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991), the Social cognitive theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and a socioecological
model (McLeroy et al., 1988). Intentions to commute by car were positively related to
car passenger experience, general interest in cars, and car ownership norms, but are negatively
related to willingness to accept car restrictions and perceived lack of behavioural control.
Intentions to commute by bicycle were related to positive cycling experience, willingness to accept
car restrictions, negative attitudes towards cars, and bicycle-oriented future vision, but are
negatively related to car ownership norms. Attitudinal constructs are related to individual
characteristics, such as gender, residential location, current mode choice to daily activities, and
parental travel patterns. The findings reveal that environmental concern has no impact on
intentions but mediates willingness to reduce car use in future. The behavioural framework
proposed highlights the influences behind the adolescents’ intentions from a broad aspect and
identifies several distinct targets in domains outside the intra- and interpersonal domains. This
distinction gives potential to guide behavioural interventions as it provides both a distinction
between levels of intervention and the targets of intervention.
The third study was a qualitative interview study where 50 in-depth interviews were carried out in
order to explore the motivation behind 15 year olds adolescents’ intention to obtain a driving
licence and to own a car in the future. The interviews were analysed using thematic-analysis to
identify the underlying factors shaping the semantic content of the data, to create a data driven
conceptual model. Three segments of pre-drivers were identified: car enthusiasts, who would like
to be early car users, car pragmatists, who would like to have the license at an early stage and a
car at a later stage, and car sceptics, who are late license holders and car users. Among the three
groups, the car pragmatists have the highest potential to be affected by policy measures for
delaying the driving license and owning a car.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | DTU Transport |
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Number of pages | 134 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-87-7327-269-5 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-87-7327-267-1 |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
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Projects
- 1 Finished
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Drivkræfter og barrierer bag unges transportbehov
Sigurdardottir, S. B., Møller, M., Nielsen, T. A. S., Hjorthol, R. J., Anable, J. & Teasdale, T. W.
01/05/2009 → 28/04/2014
Project: PhD