Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Nico Van de Weghe¹  Lieze Mertens²  Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij²  Delfien Van Dyck³  Benedicte Deforche⁴  Jelle Van Cauwenberg⁵  Ariane Ghekiere⁵ 

[1] Department of Geography, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S8, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium;Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium;Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium;Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Egmontstraat 5, 1000, Brussels, Belgium;Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 4k3, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium;Department of Human Biometry and Biomechanics, Faculty of Physical Education and Physical Therapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium;Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 4k3, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium;Department of Human Biometry and Biomechanics, Faculty of Physical Education and Physical Therapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium;Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Egmontstraat 5, 1000, Brussels, Belgium;

关键词: Built environment;    Biking;    Adulthood;    Subgroup;    Photographs;    Transport;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-3471-5

 received in 2016-02-10, accepted in 2016-08-06,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIncreasing cycling for transport can contribute to improve public health among adults. Micro-environmental factors (i.e. small-scaled street-setting features) may play an important role in affecting the street’s appeal to cycle for transport. Understanding about the interplay between individuals and their physical environment is important to establish tailored environmental interventions. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether specific subgroups exist based on similarities in micro-environmental preferences to cycle for transport.MethodsResponses of 1950 middle-aged adults (45–65 years) on a series of choice tasks depicting potential cycling routes with manipulated photographs yielded three subgroups with different micro-environmental preferences using latent class analysis.ResultsAlthough latent class analysis revealed three different subgroups in the middle-aged adult population based on their environmental preferences, results indicated that cycle path type (i.e. a good separated cycle path) is the most important environmental factor for all participants and certainly for individuals who did not cycle for transport. Furthermore, only negligible differences were found between the importances of the other micro-environmental factors (i.e. traffic density, evenness of the cycle path, maintenance, vegetation and speed limits) regarding the two at risk subgroups and that providing a speed bump obviously has the least impact on the street’s appeal to cycle for transport.ConclusionsResults from the current study indicate that only negligible differences were found between the three subgroups. Therefore, it might be suggested that tailored environmental interventions are not required in this research context.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016