Self-Regulatory Driving Behaviors: Gender and Transportation Support Effects

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between transportation support and self-regulatory driving behaviors of 566 community-dwelling older adults living in retirement communities, with a focus on gender differences. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that older women were more likely to avoid driving at night or on the highway than their male counterparts. Transportation support from peer friends was found to increase the likelihood of self-regulatory driving behaviors. The findings of this study imply that transportation policy and driving safety programs for older adults need to be developed, considering available transportation alternatives and gender differences in driving behaviors.

Keywords:

• driving
• older driver
• transportation
• mobility
• social support

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the staff at the Elderly Care Research Center in Case Western Reserve University for their collection of data and providing the guidance for the Florida Retirement Study (PI: Dr. Eva Kahana, NIA Grant AG10738 and NINR Grant NR010271). M. Choi is supported by grants from the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors have no financial support for research, consultantships, speakers' forums, or other holdings that might be in conflict of interest with respect to this study. A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 138th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in November 2010.