An Empirical Analysis of Children's After School Out-of-Home Activity-Location Engagement Patterns and Time Allocation

At the time of publication R. Paleti and C.R. Bhat were at the University of Texas at Austin; and R.B. Copperman was at Cambridge Systematics, Inc.Children are an often overlooked and understudied population group, whose travel needs are responsible for a significant number of trips made by a household. In addition, children's travel and activity participation during the post-school period have direct implication for adults' activity-travel patterns. A better understanding of children's after school activity-travel patterns and the linkages between parents and children's activity-travel needs is necessary for accurate prediction and forecasting of activity-based travel demand modeling systems. Specifically, this research effort utilizes a multinomial logit model to analyze children's post-school location patterns, and employs a multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model to study the propensity of children to participate in, and allocate time to, multiple activity episode purpose-location types during the after-school period. The results show that a wide variety of demographic, attitudinal, environmental, and others' activity-travel pattern characteristics impact children's after school activity engagement patterns.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

An Exploratory Analysis of Children's Daily Time-Use and Activity Patterns Using the Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)

This research paper examines the weekday and weekend activity participation characteristics of school-going children. Specifically, the research focuses on the overall time-use of children in different types of activities, as well as on several dimensions characterizing the context of participation in activities. These include the temporal (day of week and participation duration), spatial (location), with-whom (i.e., accompanying individuals), and episode sequencing dimensions. The data for our analysis is drawn from the 2002 Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

An Analysis of the Determinants of Children's Weekend Physical Activity Participation

This paper examines the out-of-home, weekend, time-use patterns of children aged 5 through 17 years, with a specific emphasis on their physical activity participation. The impact of several types of factors, including individual and household demographics, neighborhood demographics, built environment characteristics, and activity day variables, on physical activity participation is analyzed using a joint nested multiple discrete-continuous extreme value-binary choice model. The sample for analysis is drawn from the 2000 San Francisco Bay Area Travel Survey. The model developed in the paper can be used to assess the impacts of changing demographics and built environment characteristics on children's physical activity levels.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Effect of the Built Environment on Motorized and Non-Motorized Trip Making: Substitutive, Complementary, or Synergistic?

At the time of publication J.Y. Guo was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and C.R. Bhat and R.B. Copperman were at the University of Texas at Austin.It has become well recognized that non-motorized transportation is beneficial to a community's health as well as its transportation system performance. In view of the limited public resources available for improving public health and/or transportation, the present study aims to (a) assess the expected impact of built environment improvements on the substitutive, complementary, or synergistic use of motorized and non-motorized modes; and (b) examine how the effects of built environment improvements differ for different population groups and for different travel purposes. The bivariate ordered probit models estimated in this study suggest that few built environment factors lead to the substitution of motorized mode use by non-motorized mode use. Rather, factors such as increased bikeway density and street network connectivity have the potential of promoting more non-motorized travel to supplement individuals' existing motorized trips. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity found in individuals' responsiveness to built environment factors indicates that built environment improvements need to be sensitive to the local residents' characteristics.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

An Analysis of Children's Leisure Activity Engagement: Examining the Day of Week, Location, Physical Activity Level, and Fixity Dimensions

At the time of publication I.N. Sener, R.B. Copperman, and C.R. Bhat were at the University of Texas at Austin; and R.M. Pendyala was at Arizona State University.This paper presents a detailed analysis of discretionary leisure activity engagement by children. Children's leisure activity engagement is of much interest to transportation professionals from an activity-based travel demand modeling perspective, to child development professionals from a sociological perspective, and to health professionals from an active lifestyle perspective that can help prevent obesity and other medical ailments from an early age. Using data from the 2002 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this paper presents a detailed analysis of children's discretionary activity engagement by day of week (weekend versus weekday), location (in-home versus out-of-home), type of activity (physically active versus passive), and nature of activity (structured versus unstructured). A mixed multiple discrete-continuous extreme value model formulation is adopted to account for the fact that children may participate in multiple activities and allocate positive time duration to each of the activities chosen. It is found that children participate at the highest rate and for the longest duration in passive unstructured leisure activities inside the home. Children in households with parents who are employed, higher income, or higher education were found to participate in structured outdoor activities at higher rates. The child activity modeling framework and methodology presented in this paper lends itself for incorporation into larger activity-based travel model systems where it is imperative that children's activity-travel patterns be explicitly modeled both from a child health and well-being policy perspective and from a travel forecasting perspective.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Population updating system structures and models embedded within the comprehensive econometric microsimulator for urban systems (CEMUS)

At the time of publication N. Eluru, A.R. Pinjari, I.N. Sener, R.B. Copperman and C.R. Bhat were at the University of Texas at Austin; J.Y. Guo was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and S. Srinivasan was at the University of Florida.This paper describes the development of a population update modeling system as part of the development of the Comprehensive Econometric Microsimulator for SocioEconomics, Land-use, and Transportation Systems (CEMSELTS). CEMSELTS itself is part of the Comprehensive Econometric Microsimulator for Urban Systems (CEMUS) under development at The University of Texas at Austin. The research in the paper recognizes that modeling the linkages among demographics, land use, and transportation is important for realistic travel demand forecasting. The population update modeling system focuses on the modeling of events and actions of individuals and households in the urban region. An analysis framework is proposed to predict the future-year population characteristics by modeling the changes to all relevant attributes of the households and individuals. The models identified in the analysis framework are estimated for the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The econometric structures used include deterministic models, rate-based probability models, binary logit models, multinomial logit models, and ordered response probit models. To verify the outputs from these models, the predicted results for the year 2000 are compared against observed 2000 Census data.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

An empirical analysis of children’s after school out-of-home activity-location engagement patterns and time allocation

Children’s activity patterns, Children’s time-use, Discrete–continuous model systems, Post-school travel, Activity-based travel analysis,

An analysis of children’s leisure activity engagement: examining the day of week, location, physical activity level, and fixity dimensions

Children’s activity participation, Leisure activities, Discrete continuous models, Physical activity, Structured activities, Unobserved factors,

An analysis of the determinants of children’s weekend physical activity participation

This paper examines the out-of-home, weekend, time-use patterns of children aged 5–17 years, with a specific emphasis on their physical activity participation. The impact of several types of factors, including individual and household demographics, neighborhood demographics, built environment characteristics, and activity day variables, on physical activity participation is analyzed using a joint nested multiple discrete–continuous extreme value-binary choice model. The sample for analysis is drawn from the 2000 San Francisco Bay Area Travel Survey. The model developed in the paper can be used to assess the impacts of changing demographics and built environment characteristics on children’s physical activity levels. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007Children’s physical activity, Children’s time use, Weekend activity–travel behavior, Built environment, Non-motorized travel,