How Does Transportation Insecurity Compare and Relate to Other Indicators of Material Hardship in the U.S.?

Increasingly, researchers have used measures of material hardship (food, housing, utility, bills, medical) to better understand economic distress. Missing from this literature are hardships related to transportation. This descriptive paper uses recent nationally representative data and a newly validated measure of transportation insecurity to address gaps in our understanding of how transportation insecurity compares and relates to other indicators of material hardship. We find that transportation insecurity is a very common material hardship experienced by U.S. adults. The demographic groups most likely to experience transportation insecurity are also those disproportionately affected by other hardships, especially food insecurity. Additionally, we find that transportation and food insecurity are the hardships most likely to co-occur with other forms of hardship. Finally, we examine the association between these hardships and self-rated health and depressive symptoms, finding that transportation insecurity is similarly associated with these outcomes as food insecurity and unmet medical needs. Overall, these results suggest that transportation insecurity behaves similarly to other hardships, especially food insecurity, and underscores the importance of addressing transportation insecurity in efforts to reduce material hardship and improve overall wellbeing.