The effectiveness of an intervention to promote active travel modes in early adolescence

• Published in: Transportation research. Part F, Traffic psychology and behaviour Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 389 - 402
• Main Authors: Stark, Juliane, Berger, Wolfgang J., Hössinger, Reinhard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Active travel; Adolescents; Attitudes; Behavior; Evaluation; Intervention; Modal choice; Structural equation modeling; Theory of planned behavior; Transportation; Travel; Young adults; Intervention; Evaluation; Active travel; Structural equation modeling; Adolescents; Theory of planned behavior
• ISSN: 1369-8478; 1873-5517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2018.03.017

•Evaluation of effectiveness of travel awareness campaign for adolescents.•Behavior was measured with travel diaries including all (not only school) trips.•Using before-after control group experiment and difference models in TPB.•Consideration of the individual potential for behavioral changes.•Intervention was only effective in changing attitudes, PBC and intentions. This study investigates the changeability of transport-related attitudes and mode choice of early adolescents. Data on attitudes and travel behavior were collected in Austria and Germany in two consecutive survey waves with an interval of one year. The approach is based on a before-after control group experiment with an intervention promoting active travel modes. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior we used structural equation modeling analyzing effects of the intervention; the potential for behavioral changes was modelled as moderator variable between intention and behavior. Findings suggest that the intervention was effective in changing attitudes, perceived behavioral control (PBC) and intentions to use non-motorized travel modes more, and car less. Difference models show that changes of attitude, subjective norm, and PBC accounted for 29% (car passenger) to 92% (walking) of the variance in changes in intention. The changes in intentions are however weak predictors of changes in reported behavior.