Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between active \ncommuting, lifestyle, and education in college graduates. This study was conducted as a \nsurvey. Email invitations were sent to California State University Chico Alumni who \nhad email addresses on file from the graduating classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011. The \nfirst section of the survey included 6 questions designed to assess commuting style, \neducation level, and gender. The second section of the survey was a lifestyle evaluation \nadapted from Healthstyle: A Self Test developed by the U.S. Public Health Service. The \nsurvey itself was conducted for 1 month between June 26 and July 26, 2012; 6,031 \nalumni were contacted via e-mail. \nEighty-four people completed the survey. Fourteen respondents engaged in \nactive commuting. \nRates of active commuting were significantly different between alumni who \nhad earned undergraduate degrees and alumni who had earned graduate degrees. The \nsame trend was observed among male and female respondents. However, no significant \ndifference was observed among the female respondents. \nOverall, there was a significant difference between active commuters and \nthose who said they would commute actively under ideal circumstances. \nA higher proportion of female respondents answered ???Almost Always??? to \nquestions having something to do with physical appearance, as compared to male respondents. \nFurthermore, among participants whose highest level of education was an \nundergraduate degree, a higher proportion of females answered ???Almost Always??? as \ncompared to males, when asked if they maintain a healthy body weight. This difference \nwas significant. \nProportional data revealed trends between commuting style and lifestyle. Although \nno significant differences were observed in lifestyle factors between active and \nnon-active commuters, certain trends were observed between the two groups, particularly \na higher proportion of active commuters reported ???almost always??? to engaging in \nregular aerobic and muscular strength and endurance exercise. \nFrom these data, we can infer a relationship between commuting style and \neducation. Although this study demonstrated significant differences between commuting \nstyle and education, further research is needed to expand our understanding of these \ntwo variables, especially within genders.
Author: William Garby Byrne
Language: English
Subfield: Transportation
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1034696204