Citation

Lin CY, Liao Y. BMC Public Health 2017; 17(1): e665.

Affiliation

Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei, 106, Taiwan. liaoyung@ntnu.edu.tw.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-017-4682-0

PMID

28821286

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although research has shown that numerous perceived environmental factors are supportive of physical activity, little is known about their associations with sedentary transport in motorcycle-oriented countries. This study examined the association between perceptions of Taiwan's environmental factors and urban adults' motorcycle use.

METHODS: Cross-sectional data from 1003 Taiwanese adults aged 20-64 years from three urban cities were collected through telephonic surveys in 2015. Data on motorcycle use, sociodemographic variables, and perceived environmental attributes were obtained. Logistic regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS: In Model 1, adults who perceived favorable access to public transport and destinations, presence of sidewalks, and safety from crimes at night were less likely to use motorcycles. In Model 2, in which potential covariates were additionally adjusted for, the same four environmental attributes (perceived favorable access to public transport and destinations, presence of sidewalks, and safety from crimes at night; odds ratio [OR] = 0.46, 0.65, 0.63, 0.64, respectively) were significantly associated with motorcycle use.

CONCLUSION: The investigated perceived environmental factors, which have previously been associated with facilitating active transportation, discourage sedentary modes of transport, such as motorized vehicles.

Language: en

Keywords

Motorcycle use; Perception of environment; Sedentary behavior; Supportive environments; Transportation; Urban adults