Commuting is more stressful for women than men

The Guardian: Report on the effects of commuting on psychological health says greater responsibility for childcare and household chores increases the burden on women


DailyMail UK: Too much to juggle: Why commuting is far more stressful for women than men


The study:
Roberts, J., Hodgson, R., & Dolan, P. (2011). “It's driving her mad”: Gender differences in the effects of commuting on psychological health. Journal of Health Economics, 30 (5): Pages 1064-1076.

Abstract:

Commuting is an important component of time use for most working people. We explore the effects of commuting time on the psychological health of men and women. We use data from the British Household Panel Survey in a fixed effects framework that includes variables known to determine psychological health, as well as factors which may provide compensation for commuting such as income, job satisfaction and housing quality. Our results show that, even after these variables are considered, commuting has an important detrimental effect on the psychological health of women, but not men, and this result is robust to numerous different specifications. We explore explanations for this gender difference and can find no evidence that it is due to women's shorter working hours or weaker occupational position. Rather women's greater sensitivity to commuting time seems to be a result of their larger responsibility for day-to-day household tasks, including childcare and housework.

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Long commute and well-being

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index:

Well-Being & Commuting: Well-Being Index Analytics
The study reaffirms the well-known relationship between long commuting duration and poor psychological health. It reports that the longer people have to commute (be it in a car, train or bus) to get to work, the more miserable they feel.

Specifically, the longer you commute:

• The more you worry.
• You are less likely you are to smile or laugh each day.
• High blood pressure and obesity are more likely.
• You will exercise less.
• It's less likely you will see your workplace as having a trusting place.
• You will hate the job that you’re spending all that time to get to and from.

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Long commute and marriage

Press release: Long-distance commuters get divorced more often.


Sandow, E. (2011). On the road: Social aspects of commuting long distances to work. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Umeå University, Sweden.

Abstract:

With its point of departure of increasing numbers of people being engaged in commuting, the aim of this thesis is to reveal prerequisites for and consequences of long-distance commuting in Sweden for the individual and his or her partner. Special attention has been given to prerequisites for long-distance commuting in sparsely populated areas, and to social consequences related to long-distance commuting in terms of gender differences in commuting patterns, earnings and separation. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, presented in different papers. Two studies draw on individual longitudinal register data on all Swedish long-distance commuters living with a partner. The other two focus on commuting behaviour in sparsely populated areas, one based on individual register data and the other on a survey. Long-distance commuting (>30 kilometres) has become an increasingly common mobility strategy among Swedish workers and their households. Results from the thesis show that 11 percent of Swedish workers are long-distance commuters and about half of them live in a relationship. Among these couples many are families with children, indicating the importance of social ties in households’ decisions on where to work and live. Most long-distance commuters are men, and it is also likely that long-distance commuters have a high education level and are employed in the private sector. For the majority, long-distance commuting gives higher earnings; however, men benefit economically more than women do. As long-distance commuting reduces available family time, the non-commuting spouse often takes on a larger share of household commitments. The thesis shows that men’s long-distance commuting may therefore serve to reproduce and reinforce traditional gender roles on the labour market and within households. On the other hand, women’s long-distance commuting can lead to more equalitarian relationships on the labour market and within households. For the majority of couples it seems as if long-distance commuting becomes more than a temporary mobility strategy, while for some couples it does not work out very well. Separation rates are found to be higher among long-distance commuters compared to other couples; especially the first years of commuting seem to be the most challenging. It is suggested that coping strategies are important to make the consequences of long-distance commuting easier to handle and adjust to in the daily life puzzle. For those unable to handle these consequences, long-distance commuting is not a sustainable mobility strategy and can even end a relationship. The extent of long-distance commuting is low in sparsely populated areas, and those who do long-distance commute are mainly men. Most people work and live within the same locality and do not accept longer commuting times than do those in densely populated areas. In this thesis it is argued that facilitating car commuting in the more sparsely populated areas of Sweden can be more economically and socially sustainable, for the individual commuters as well as for society, than encouraging commuting by public transportation.

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Call for papers

The 5th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology

The 5th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology will take place in Groningen, The Netherlands, from August 29-31, 2012. There will be at least three keynote presentations, and individual papers will be presented in thematic parallel sessions and poster sessions. The conference will take place at the University Medical Hospital premises (UMCG).

Important dates:

• Call for Special sessions, workshops, symposia: September 1 2011
• Submission abstracts: December 1 2011
• Acceptance Notification: February 1 2012
• Early registration: April 1 2012
• Conference dates: August 29,30,31, 2012

 2nd International Conference on Human & Social Sciences
March 23-24, ICHSS 2012, Tirane, Albania
Important Date:

Submission of abstracts: until December 15, 2011
• Notification of acceptance of abstracts: before December 30, 2011
• Payment of the Conference fee: until January 30, 2012
• Participation on the Conference March 23-24, 2012
• Submission of the full papers for Publication on the conference proceeding and the Special Issue of Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences until March 30, 2012
• Shipping free of charge of the Conference Proceeding and the Special issue of MJSS by the end of April 2012

Title: 14 pts. Centered, Garamond or Times New Roman
Abstract: 10 pts. Italic, Garamond or Times New Roman
Paragraphs: 12 pts. Numbered, alignment left. Garamond or Times New Roman
Text: 12 pts, single line, Justified, Garamond or Times New Roman
References: Use APA style for references
Tables and figures: Included in the text, centered and numbered

ICSSH 2012

The 2012 International Conference on Social Science and Humanity - ICSSH 2012, will be held during March 10-11, 2012, in Chennai, India.. ICSSH 2012, aims to bring together researchers, scientists, engineers, and scholar students to exchange and share their experiences, new ideas, and research results about all aspects of Social Science and Humanity, and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

Important Date:

• Paper submission (Full Paper) Before November 5, 2011
• Notification of acceptance On December 1, 2011
• Authors' Registration Before December 15, 2011
• Final paper submission Before December 15, 2011
• ICSSH 2012 Conference Dates March 10 - 11, 2012

Each paper is limited to 5 pages normally, and additional pages will be charged

1st International Conference on Human Factors in Transportation 2012
21-25 July 2012
Hilton San Francisco Union Square, San Francisco, California
Important Date:

• Paper presentations: Abstract Length: 500 words
• Deadline for Abstract Receipt: 15 Nov 2011
• Notification of Review Outcome: 15 Dec 2011
• Deadline for Receipt of Accepted Proposal: 1 March 2012
• Posters/demonstrations

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