Effect of travel satisfaction and heterogeneity of activity-travel patterns of other persons in the household on social and mental health: The case of Bandung Metropolitan area

Abstract

Travel satisfaction (TS) is used in this study as a proxy for subjective well-being in the travel domain, which is hypothesised to mediate the relationship between the activity–travel pattern and health variables. Moreover, multilevel modelling with instrumental variables is used, so that the heterogeneity of other household members’ activity–travel patterns can be included. Considering the heterogeneity effects of other household members, this study shows that TS has a positive correlation with both social health (SH) and mental health (MH). The model shows that those who stay at home and work or study longer tend to have a high TS, and in turn high SH and MH. It can be understood that people who have longer time commitments to obligatory activities appreciate their trips more because they are observed to have the lowest MH conditions. Longer times spent on studying and working and in-home activities are indicated to limit people’s participation with other household members, which in turn correlates with low MH. Any efforts to undertake more travel for those who have more commitments at home and in the workplace can result in better TS and in turn SH and MH. This study confirms that more regular daily activity–travel patterns with regular breaks from obligatory activities are observed to correspond to better MH. More regular daily activity–travel patterns of other household members can make individuals organise their own more regular activity–travel patterns, which correlates with better SH and MH.