The Reciprocal Relationship between Children and Young Adults’ Travel Behavior and Their Travel Attitudes, Skills, and Norms

Thigpen, Calvin Gregory · 2017 · ROSA P / University of California, Davis. Institute of Transportation Studies

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Summary

This dissertation investigates how individuals’ travel experiences shape their "motility," defined as the combination of transportation-related skills, knowledge, attitudes, and norms. Motivated by the need to understand how travel competencies are built over a lifetime, the research addresses the gap in existing literature regarding motility as a cohesive unit and its formation through experience. The study focuses on two critical developmental periods—youth and young adulthood—and examines two specific forms of motility: bicycling and driving. The work is grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior, mobility biography frameworks, and ecological models of travel behavior. The research employs a mixed-methods approach across three distinct studies. The first study utilizes a longitudinal panel of semi-structured interviews with parents and children in Davis, California, conducted when the children were 9, 12, and 15 years old. Qualitative coding and content analysis were used to explore how bicycling experiences influence attitudes and norms. The second study analyzes longitudinal panel data from the annual UC Davis Campus Travel Survey, tracking undergraduates’ bicycling behavior, attitudes, and skills. Statistical methods, including difference-in-differences and latent Markov models, were applied to assess the impact of personal bicycling experience versus mere exposure to bicycling culture. The third study investigates the delay in driver’s licensing using retrospective survey data from UC Davis students, staff, and faculty. Binomial logistic models, survival analysis, and censored regression were used to identify factors influencing the timing of license acquisition, such as graduated driver’s licensing (GDL) laws, residential walkability, and generational attitudes. The findings demonstrate a reciprocal relationship between travel behavior and motility. In the study of Davis children, early bicycling behavior was associated with a higher probability of developing positive bicycling attitudes, high skill levels, and perceptions of bicycling as a normal mode of travel. Frequent bicyclists at age 15 valued independence and convenience, while daily bicyclists viewed bicycling as accessible to anyone. Among UC Davis undergraduates, personal bicycling experiences—both prior to and during college—significantly improved subsequent bicycling attitudes and skills. Conversely, mere exposure to high levels of bicycling on campus did not significantly build these competencies. Regarding driving, the study found that GDL laws, walkable residential locations, car access, and generational differences in attitudes are associated with delayed driver’s licensing. Millennials exhibited less positive attitudes toward licensing than previous generations. The significance of this research lies in its confirmation that acquiring "stocks of experience" builds travel motility. The findings suggest that teenagers who delay obtaining a driver’s license may gain valuable motility-building experiences with sustainable alternative modes like bicycling, walking, or public transit. These results provide theoretical contributions to travel behavior research by quantifying the consequences of travel experiences on motility. Practically, the study implies that transportation planners and policymakers can enhance sustainable motility by implementing augmented GDL policies, mandatory bicycle and pedestrian education in elementary schools, and enhanced university programs promoting alternative transportation.

Key finding

Early bicycling behavior is associated with increased probability of possessing positive bicycling attitudes, a high level of bicycling skill, and perceptions of bicycling as a normal, acceptable mode of travel.

Methodology

mixed_methods

Sample size: 1648

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• generational effects

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence