Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis
Abstract Background Increasing 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 bet...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2016-08-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-016-3471-5 |
| _version_ | 1819071895788584960 |
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| author | Lieze Mertens Jelle Van Cauwenberg Ariane Ghekiere Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij Benedicte Deforche Nico Van de Weghe Delfien Van Dyck |
| author_facet | Lieze Mertens Jelle Van Cauwenberg Ariane Ghekiere Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij Benedicte Deforche Nico Van de Weghe Delfien Van Dyck |
| author_sort | Lieze Mertens |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Increasing 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. Methods Responses 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. Results Although 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. Conclusions Results 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T17:29:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-77ad8d8b57fa47a18b516c344d84c5a8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T17:29:06Z |
| publishDate | 2016-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-77ad8d8b57fa47a18b516c344d84c5a82022-12-21T18:55:58ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582016-08-0116111010.1186/s12889-016-3471-5Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysisLieze Mertens0Jelle Van Cauwenberg1Ariane Ghekiere2Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij3Benedicte Deforche4Nico Van de Weghe5Delfien Van Dyck6Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent UniversityDepartment of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent UniversityAbstract Background Increasing 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. Methods Responses 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. Results Although 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. Conclusions Results 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.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-016-3471-5Built environmentBikingAdulthoodSubgroupPhotographsTransport |
| spellingShingle | Lieze Mertens Jelle Van Cauwenberg Ariane Ghekiere Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij Benedicte Deforche Nico Van de Weghe Delfien Van Dyck Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis BMC Public Health Built environment Biking Adulthood Subgroup Photographs Transport |
| title | Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis |
| title_full | Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis |
| title_fullStr | Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis |
| title_short | Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis |
| title_sort | differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults a latent class analysis |
| topic | Built environment Biking Adulthood Subgroup Photographs Transport |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-016-3471-5 |
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