Wayfinding Strategy and Gender – Testing the Mediating Effects of Wayfinding Experience, Personality and Emotions

Figures & data

Figure 1 Conceptual model.

Notes: Hypotheses: H1 = Gender predicts EWS; H2a = Gender predicts OWE; H2b = Gender predicts WRF; H2c = Gender predicts ED; H3 = WRF is positively associated with ED; H4a = The relationship between Gender and EWS is mediated by OWE; H4b = The relationship between Gender and EWS is mediated by WRF; H4c = The relationship between Gender and EWS is mediated by ED.
Abbreviations: EWS, Effective Wayfinding Skill; OWE, Outdoor wayfinding experience; WRF, Wayfinding related fear; ED, Emotional difficulties.

Table 1 Variables/Measurements for Each Proposed Mediator and the Dependent Variable

Mediator	Variable		Measurement
Outdoor wayfinding experience	Use of an active means of transport		FSCSS
	Childhood wayfinding Experience		CWES
Wayfinding-related fear	Wayfinding anxiety		WQ
	Feeling of personal safety		PSS
Emotional difficulties	Self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation		DERS
	Anxiety - related personality traits	Trait anxiety	STAI
		Neuroticism	NEO-FFI
Dependent variable	Variable		Measurement
Effective wayfinding skill	Allocentric strategy	Indoors	IWES
		Outdoors	FSCSS
	Satisfaction with wayfinding ability		QSR

Abbreviations: CWES, Childhood Wayfinding Experience; DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; FSCSS, Familiarity and Spatial Cognitive Style Scale; IWSS, Indoor Wayfinding Experience Scale; NEO-FFI, NEO Five-Factor Inventory; PSS, Personal Safety Scale; QSR, Questionnaire on Spatial Representation; STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; WQ, Wayfinding Questionnaire.

Figure 2 Statistical design.

Abbreviations: PCA, Principal Component Analysis; SEM, Structural Equation Modeling.

Table 2 Summary of PCA Results (N = 269)

Measurements	Rotated Factor Loadings
	Emotional Difficulties	Effective Wayfinding Skill	Outdoor Wayfinding Experience	Wayfinding-Related Fear	Emotion Unclarity and Unawareness
E. Lack Control	0.87
E. Lack Acceptance	0.83
Trait anxiety	0.79
Neuroticism	0.78
E. Lack Goals	0.77
E. Lack Clarity	0.64				0.49
Allocentric strategy indoors		0.84
Satisfaction with wayfinding ab.		0.77
Allocentric strategy outdoors		0.71
Active means of transp. (c.)			0.82
Active means of transp. (at p.)			0.78
Childhood wayfinding exp.			0.47
Wayfinding anxiety				0.76
Feeling of personal safety				−0.69
E. Lack Awareness					0.91
Eigenvalues	4.46	2.01	1.57	1.11	1.08
% of variance	29.71	13.40	10.45	7.41	7.23

Abbreviations: Ab, ability; C, childhood; E, Emotion; Exp, experience; P, present; Transp, transport.

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Measurement Instruments

	M (SD)	Mmen (SD)	Mwomen (SD)
Indoor AWS	16.67 (4.39)	18.37 (4.50)	15.78 (4.07)
Outdoor AWS	2.16 (1.02)	2.30 (1.12)	2.09 (0.96)
Childhood WE	15.63 (3.81)	15.69 (3.57)	15.60 (3.94)
AMT Childhood	6.94 (1.54)	7.00 (1.58)	6.90 (1.52)
AMT at Present	9.13 (1.82)	9.48 (1.98)	8.94 (1.72)
Satisfaction WAb	2.94 (0.81)	3.28 (0.74)	2.77 (0.80)
E. Lack Accept.	13.7 (6.39)	13.31 (6.48)	13.90 (6.36)
E. Lack Goals	10.03 (4.04)	9.49 (4.07)	10.31 (4.01)
E. Lack Control	16.37 (6.84)	15.51 (5.92)	16.82 (7.26)
E. Lack Clarity	7.92 (2.82)	7.82 (2.96)	7.98 (2.74)
E. Lack Aware.	9.19 (2.69)	9.54 (2.78)	9.01 (2.64)
Neuroticism	20.39 (8.20)	17.77 (8.07)	21.77 (7.95)
Personal Safety	25.80 (3.70)	27.78 (2.41)	24.74 (3.83)
Trait anxiety	19.51 (9.87)	17.44 (11.26)	20.60 (8.89)
W. Anxiety	27.24 (10.47)	23.28 (9.61)	29.33 (10.32)

Abbreviations: Accept, Acceptance; AMT, Active Means of Transport; Aware, Awareness; AWS, Allocentric Wayfinding Strategy; E, Emotion; W, Wayfinding; WAb, Wayfinding Ability; WE, Wayfinding Experience.

Table 4 Correlations Matrix of the Measurement Instruments

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1. Indoor AWS	−
2. Outdoor AWS	0.40^c	−
3. Childhood WE	0.06	0.01	−
4. AMT Childhood	0.12^a	0.02	0.21^b	−
5. AMT at Present	0.17^b	0.06	0.11	0.43^c	−
6. Satisfaction WAb	0.62^c	0.27^c	0.05	0.06	0.14^a	−
7. E. Lack Accept.	−0.02	−0.03	0.07	0.01	−0.08	−0.11	−
8. E. Lack Goals	−0.13^a	−0.09	0.04	−0.03	−0.13^a	−0.16^b	0.57^c	−
9. E. Lack Control	−0.09	−0.01	0.03	0.01	−0.19^b	−0.17^b	0.69^c	0.69^c	−
10. E. Lack Clarity	−0.02	0.03	0.07	0.01	−0.06	−0.15^a	0.49^c	0.39^c	0.56^c	−
11. E. Lack Aware.	−0.02	−0.01	−0.03	−0.03	−0.09	−0.11	0.15^a	0.08	0.20^b	0.41^c	−
12. Neuroticism	−0.07	0.06	0.07	−0.05	−0.21^b	−0.19^b	0.56^c	0.48^c	0.64^c	0.51^c	0.11	−
13. Personal Safety	0.19^b	−0.08	0.14^a	0.17^b	0.30^c	0.22^c	−0.20^b	−0.21^b	0.24^c	−0.25^c	−0.07	−0.35^c	−
14. Trait anxiety	−0.10	0.02	0.01	−0.08	−0.22^c	−0.25^c	0.62^c	0.50^c	0.67^c	0.58^c	0.19^b	0.79^c	−0.34^c	−
15. W. Anxiety	−0.22^c	−0.01	−0.06	−0.11	−0.17^b	−0.37^c	0.20^b	0.20^b	0.23^c	0.25^c	0.07	0.31^c	−0.39^c	0.37^c

Notes: ^ap < 0.05; ^bp < 0.01; ^cp < 0.001. Correlations with coefficients > 0.5 are displayed in grey.

Abbreviations: Accept, Acceptance; AMT, Active Means of Transport; Aware, Awareness; AWS, Allocentric Wayfinding Strategy; E, Emotion; W, Wayfinding; WAb, Wayfinding Ability; WE, Wayfinding Experience.

Figure 3 Results of the structural equation model.

Notes: Numbers indicate standardized betas; *p < 0.001.