Understanding adolescents’ intentions to commute by car or bicycle as adults Sigrun Birna Sigurdardottir a , Sigal Kaplan a , Mette Møller a,⇑ , Thomas William Teasdale b a Technical University of Denmark, Department of Transport, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark b University of Copenhagen, Department of Psychology, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark article info Keywords: Adolescents Travel intentions Mode choice Socio-ecological modeling abstract This study focuses on the intentions of adolescents to commute by car or bicycle as adults. The behavioral model is based on intrapersonal and interpersonal constructs from the the- ory of planned behavior extended to include constructs from the institutional, community and policy domains. Data from a survey among Danish adolescents is analyzed. It is found that car use intentions are related to positive car passenger experience, general interest in cars, and car ownership norms, and are negatively related to willingness to accept car restrictions and perceived lack of behavioral control. Cycling intentions are related to posi- tive cycling experience, willingness to accept car restrictions, negative attitudes towards cars, and bicycle-oriented future vision, and are negatively related to car ownership norms. Attitudinal constructs are related to individual characteristics, such as gender, residential location, current mode choice to daily activities, and parental travel patterns. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Understanding the travel intentions of children and adolescents and their related factors is one of the key elements for promoting travel pattern transition in society and predicting future travel behavior. Adolescents are in the initial stages of adopting new travel patterns and developing habits, and hence they are still open to change. Nevertheless, when adoles- cents become increasingly car reliant, they become less responsive to policies that encourage car use reduction. Additionally, physical activity during adolescence reduces the odds of being physically inactive in adulthood. Previous studies on future travel intentions, for example by Baslington (2009) and Line et al. (2012), indicate that children and adolescents have developed a car-oriented culture, that they are eager to acquire a driving license and to own a car, and that they show a general resistance to changing these intentions. While the travel intentions of adults have been extensively investigated, little is known about the intentions of children and adolescents. There are few studies that have focused on the perceptions of children and adolescents’ attitudes, and those that have, have looked mainly at intentions to obtain a driving license and own a car; they reveal that the majority of children and ado- lescents intended to do both. The reasons given included positive travel experience as a car passenger, as well as practical (e.g., employment related, convenience, family needs, and travel independence) and psychological reasons (e.g., parental role models, peer group pressure, personal gratification, fascination with cars). 1 We focus on the intentions of adolescents to drive a car and cycle to work as adults using data from a sample of 15 year-olds in Denmark. 1361-9209/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2013.04.008 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 45256537. E-mail address: mm@transport.dtu.dk (M. Møller). 1 Environmental awareness, however, was found to be a factor limiting children’s intention to own a car in the Netherlands (Kopnina, 2011), while it did not significantly influence the same intention among adolescents in Britain (Mackay, 1998). Transportation Research Part D 24 (2013) 1–9 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Transportation Research Part D journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/trd