Realized Travel Demand and Relative Desired Mobility of Elderly Women in Rural and Small Urban North Dakota

Mobility for the aging is a topic of paramount importance around the world and in the United States. The population of elderly is increasing. The future aging population is used to higher levels of mobility than the past aging populations. Further, a trend of aging in place may impose more stress upon the less densely populated regions that tend to have fewer mobility options. Women may face the greatest mobility challenges because of their tendency to live longer than men, to have more health-related problems than men, and to stop driving earlier than men. Therefore, it is important to better understand the met and unmet mobility needs of women age 65 and older. This study applies a multi-level conceptual ecological model to improve our understanding of women’s realized travel demands (RTD – current level of trips) and their relative desired mobility (RDM – desire for more or fewer trips). The author used 1,021 responses of women age 65 and older living in rural and small urban North Dakota collected by a telephone survey in August 2006 for this study. The author investigated the level of trips and the desire for more or fewer trips for nine trip types (doctor, store, pharmacy, hair salon, eating out, visiting friend, attending church, exercise, and no particular destination). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the significant variables categorized within the individual level (self-efficacy, physical limitations, etc.), social environment (family, friends, neighbors, etc.), and physical environment (rural vs. urban) that impact the current level of trips and the desired trips. The author found that women with higher levels of self-efficacy and cognitive abilities have higher RTD and lower RDM while women with physical limitations make fewer trips and desire to make more trips. Women with larger social networks (family, neighbors, etc. to provide rides) have higher RTD and lower RDM. Further, women living in rural environments make fewer trips than women in urban areas, but are equally happy with their trips.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=586
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

  North Dakota State University
  1320 Albrecht Boulevard
  Fargo, ND  United States  581052

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hough, Jill Annette
• Publication Date: 2007-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 120p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Females; Mobility; Multivariate analysis; Rural areas; Small cities; Small towns; Surveys; Travel demand; Trip purpose
• Uncontrolled Terms: Bivariate analysis
• Geographic Terms: North Dakota
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01080859
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 15 2007 10:45AM