Explaining Sex Differences in Motorcyclist Riding Behavior: An Application of Multi-Group Structural Equation Modeling.

Savalee Uttra,Sajjakaj Jomnonkwao,Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha,Napat Laddawan

doi:10.3390/ijerph17238797

Abstract

Road accidents are caused by humans, vehicles, and road environments. Human attitudes affect behavioral changes and can lead to unsafe riding behavior. The sex of an individual is a key factor that affects their riding behavior. We aimed to use structural equation modeling (SEM) by analyzing the multi-group SEM between men and women and applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the locus of control (LC) theory. The data used in the research were collected from all over Thailand, consisting of 1516 motorcycle riders (903 men and 613 women) aged over 20 years. A self-administered questionnaire was designed for data collection of the riding behavior using the Motorcycle Rider Behavior Questionnaire (MRBQ), including traffic errors, control errors, stunt frequency, and safety equipment. We found that riding behaviors between men and women were significantly different in both theories. For men, TPB showed that the main factors that highly influenced motorcycle riding behavior (MRB) were the attitudes based on health motivation (AHM) and perceived behavior control (PC); for women, AHM produced a stronger effect than in men. However, for the subjective norms (SN) factor, we found no direct effect on MRB, but did find an indirect effect through the attitudes based on severity (ASE) in both sexes. Particularly for women, the indirect influence value of the SN factor was higher. For women, the LC showed that internal factors had more influence than external factors. The same was found for men, but the effect in women was significantly stronger. We found that sex significantly affected the MRB. Therefore, policies must be implemented that address each group specifically as their attitudes and behaviors are different.

Highlights

We found four factors of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), including attitudes based on health motivation (AHM), attitudes based on severity (ASE), subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavior control (PC)
From the developed structural equation modeling (SEM), we found that the leading attitudes of men and women toward riding behavior from both theories were significantly different, which is a finding in accordance those reported by Useche et al [7], who studied sex differences in risky bicycle riding behavior
This finding is supported by Bazargan-Hejazi et al [16] and Nguyen et al [31], who found that attitude had the greatest effect on riding behavior

Summary

Introduction

Vehicular collisions damage property and can be harmful to the health, even causing death. The number of motor vehicle collisions in Thailand remains high. According to road collision reports from the Royal Thai Police in 2019, 99,087 incidents were confirmed, of which 36,797 involved motorcycles. 65.5% were caused by humans, while traffic signals/traffic signs, vehicles, and the environment were involved in 27.5%, 5.1%, and 1.9%, respectively [1]. These incidents resulted in 8648 deaths (6473 men and 2175 women) [1]. Accidents involving serious or minor injuries totaled

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