Feeling unpleasant in daily activities – Exploring the effects of travel and non-travel time use in Germany

Abstract

In this study, we examine the association between unpleasant feeling of daily activities (travel, paid and unpaid work) and various diverse factors: i) personal socio-economic status; ii) travel time use behavior (travel behavior and travel multitasking) iii) non-travel time use behavior (primary and secondary activities). We used the German National Time Use Survey 2012/13 and adopted multilevel logistic analysis. The results revealed that travel behaviour (travel by train, commute distance) and travel time use (passive activities, ICT use, socialising, paid and unpaid work during travel) significantly explain the unpleasant feeling of travel activity. For paid work, factors such as socio economic (being labourer/civil servant, work in shift), primary time spent on paid work and multitasking during paid work had significant positive effect on unpleasant feeling of paid work. For unpaid work, factors such as female gender, travel behavior (travel by public bus, cycling, walking, maintenance trips), primary time spent on unpaid work and multitasking during unpaid work positively determine the unpleasant feeling. The interaction between gender and travel /non-travel time use has a significantly larger effect on men’s unpleasant feeling on time use activities than women.