IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v40y2013i4p617-629.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Travel—Obesity Connection: Discerning the Impacts of Commuting Trips with the Perspective of Individual Energy Expenditure and Time Use

Author

Listed:
  • Jiawen Yang

    (School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China, 518055)

  • Steven French

    (School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology, 245 4th Street NW, Suite 204, Atlanta, GA 30332-0155, USA)

Abstract

It has been widely reported that individual travel has significant implications for obesity. In this research we try to clarify the connection between travel and obesity from an individual energy-expenditure perspective. It is hypothesized here that individual travel affects the likelihood of becoming obese not only directly through a reliance on automobile-based travel that requires low amounts of individual energy expenditure, but also indirectly through the fatigue and stress stemming from driving, which reduces time available for physical activities and exercise. We use the American Time Use Survey ( http://www.bls.gov/tus/ ) for 2003–08 and its Eating and Health Module for 2006 and 2007 to examine individual travel, energy expenditure, and obesity. Empirical analysis illustrates how individual body mass index (BMI) and individual travel are correlated and how this correlation can be explained from the perspective of individual energy expenditure. In addition, a distinction is drawn between commuting and noncommuting trips: Commuting trips have a relatively larger impact on individual BMI. Analysis results point to a potential to reduce obesity rates through planning efforts at the regional level.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiawen Yang & Steven French, 2013. "The Travel—Obesity Connection: Discerning the Impacts of Commuting Trips with the Perspective of Individual Energy Expenditure and Time Use," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 40(4), pages 617-629, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:40:y:2013:i:4:p:617-629
    DOI: 10.1068/b38076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b38076
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b38076?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Sagrario Floro & Marjorie Miles, 2003. "Time use, work and overlapping activities: evidence from Australia," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(6), pages 881-904, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lizhen Zhao & Zhenjiang Shen & Yanji Zhang & Yan Ma, 2019. "The Impact of the Community Built Environment on the Walking Times of Residents in a Community in the Downtown Area of Fuzhou," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal, J. & Molina, Jose Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2018. "The commuting behavior of workers in the United States: Differences between the employed and the self-employed," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 19-29.
    3. Qiang Niu & Haihan Qu & Xuerui Niu & Jie Zhao & Zhigang Li & Jie Zhou, 2018. "The Impact of Spatial Distribution of Commercial Facilities in Communities on Residents’ Walking-Based Consumption Behavior: A Case Study in Wuhan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuta Masuda & Lea Fortmann & Mary Gugerty & Marla Smith-Nilson & Joseph Cook, 2014. "Pictorial Approaches for Measuring Time Use in Rural Ethiopia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 467-482, January.
    2. Jens Bonke & Mette Deding & Mette Lausten & Leslie S. Stratton, 2008. "Intra‐Household Specialization in Housework in the United States and Denmark," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(4), pages 1023-1043, December.
    3. Olga Bachmann & Carola Grunschel & Stefan Fries, 2019. "Multitasking and Feeling Good? Autonomy of Additional Activities Predicts Affect," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 899-918, March.
    4. R. Jason Faberman & Andreas I. Mueller & Ayşegül Şahin & Giorgio Topa, 2022. "Job Search Behavior Among the Employed and Non‐Employed," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1743-1779, July.
    5. Hamrick, Karen S. & McClelland, Ket, 2016. "Americans' Eating Patterns and Time Spent on Food: The 2014 Eating & Health Module Data," Economic Information Bulletin 262141, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Naidu, Sirisha C., 2011. "Rural Livelihoods, Forest Access and Time Use: A Study of Forest Communities in Northwest India," MPRA Paper 31060, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Muhamad Rizki & Tri Basuki Joewono & Dimas B. E. Dharmowijoyo & Prawira Fajarindra Belgiawan, 2021. "Does multitasking improve the travel experience of public transport users? Investigating the activities during commuter travels in the Bandung Metropolitan Area, Indonesia," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 429-454, June.
    8. Tas,Emcet Oktay & Ahmed,Tanima, 2021. "Women’s Economic Participation, Time Use, and Access to Childcare in Urban Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9735, The World Bank.
    9. Sarah M. Flood & Rachelle Hill & Katie R. Genadek, 2018. "Daily Temporal Pathways: A Latent Class Approach to Time Diary Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 117-142, January.
    10. Kalenkoski, Charlene M. & Foster, Gigi, 2010. "The Multitasking of Household Production," IZA Discussion Papers 4845, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Foster, Gigi & Kalenkoski, Charlene M., 2012. "Measuring the Relative Productivity of Multitasking to Sole-tasking in Household Production: New Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 6763, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Urwin, Sean & Lau, Yiu-Shing & Grande, Gunn & Sutton, Matthew, 2023. "Informal caregiving and the allocation of time: implications for opportunity costs and measurement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    13. Anzelika Zaiceva & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2010. "Do Ethnic Minorities "Stretch" Their Time?: Evidence from the UK Time Use Survey," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 999, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Elena Bardasi & Quentin Wodon, 2010. "Working Long Hours and Having No Choice: Time Poverty in Guinea," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 45-78.
    15. Fatima Iqbal & Muhammad Bilal Ahmad & Rai Imtiaz Hussain & Sohail Aslam & Hafiz Fawad Ali, 2020. "Time Poverty among Working Females in Pakistan: A Qualitative Study," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 170-175.
    16. repec:ilo:ilowps:446898 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Zaiceva, A., 2022. "Multitasking," MERIT Working Papers 2022-031, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    18. Daum, T. & Birner, R. & Buchwald, H. & Gerlicher, A., 2018. "Times have changed. Using a Pictorial Smartphone App to Collect Time Use Data in Rural Zambia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277076, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. repec:ilo:ilowps:427404 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Charlene M. Kalenkoski & Gigi Foster, 2015. "Measuring the relative productivity of multitasking to sole-tasking in household production: experimental evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(18), pages 1847-1862, April.
    21. King, Elizabeth M. & Randolph, Hannah L. & Floro, Maria S. & Suh, Jooyeoun, 2021. "Demographic, health, and economic transitions and the future care burden," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    22. Antonopoulos, Rania., 2009. "The unpaid care work : paid work connection," ILO Working Papers 994274043402676, International Labour Organization.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:40:y:2013:i:4:p:617-629. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.