Psychosocial Benefits and Mood Improvement from Habitual Bicycle Use

Shifting from car to bicycle use would go a long way towards building healthier and more sustainable communities, but this shift rarely comes to fruition although plenty of studies show that solutions should make it possible after analysing travel choices under the lens of utility maximisation models. This study draws from existing research focusing on the psychosocial benefits of car use by posing the question about whether cycling could contribute to the formation of positive physical, social, and self-actualisation concepts. A survey was administered to 1131 inhabitants of the Brisbane area in Australia to elicit their socioeconomic traits and travel habits, as well as to measure self-concepts related to self-realisation and the relation between cycling and mood. Structural equation modelling explored the system of relations between observed characteristics and unobserved traits, and revealed that there exists a positive relation between bicycle use and self-realisation on physical, psychological, social and growth dimensions. Moreover, results suggest that cycling has the potential of a direct and indirect contribution to the improvement of mood in individuals, and that this contribution relates to a certain stage in life. The findings from this study suggest that cycling can be made more convenient, attractive and appealing by providing insights into self-actualisation being realised by owning and pedalling a bicycle and looking into the effect of providing customised information about the psychosocial benefits of sustainable travel modes within travel feedback programs.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD50 Standing Committee on Environmental Justice in Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Kaplan, Sigal
  • Wrzesinska, Dagmara K
  • Prato, Carlo G
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile travel; Benefits; Bicycling; Modal shift; Psychological aspects; Socioeconomic factors; Structural equation modeling; Surveys; Travel behavior
• Geographic Terms: Brisbane (Australia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01697799
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-00934
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 1 2019 3:51PM