Study: Automobile Dependency Reduces Life Satisfaction

How does daily travel activity affect people's wellbeing. The study, Does Car Dependence Make People Unsatisfied With Life? Evidence From a U.S. National Survey, uses data from a national survey to explore how transportation affects life satisfaction. 

The results indicate that beyond a certain point, increases in car dependence reduce people’s satisfaction with life. It finds that relying on cars for more than 50 percent of out-of-home trips is associated with significant reductions in self-reported life satisfaction. These findings suggest that planners and decision-makers should promote multimodality and land use patterns that may help to reduce car dependence and its potential negative effect on subjective wellbeing (SWB).