Investigation of life satisfaction, travel, built environment and attitudes

Abstract

This study explores the relationships subjective well-being has with travel behaviour, the built environment and attitudes toward transportation. With data from a survey of residents of Nova Scotia, Canada, it develops a random-parameters ordered probit model with life satisfaction as the dependent variable. The approach extends current research by including built environment and attitudinal variables in the model along with daily travel behaviour, and by observing heterogeneous effects of variables at the individual level. The study results reinforce the evidence that daily out-of-home travel has a positive impact on life satisfaction by facilitating access to fulfilling daily activities such as work and social events, and that being physically active positively affects life satisfaction. The results suggest that having greater access to varied modes of transportation generally improves life satisfaction. Results on the built environment and attitudes indicate that living closer to a park or sports field is positively related to life satisfaction. Being community-minded is also generally related to higher life satisfaction. The results reveal that heterogeneity exists in the sample; for instance, attitudes toward being community-minded showed a statistically significant standard deviation in the model. Insights from this study will guide effective transportation policymaking for healthy communities.