Browsing by Subject "Travel"
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Item The Interactions between E-Shopping and Store Shopping: A Case Study of the Twin Cities(2010-08) Cao, Jason; Douma, Frank; Cleaveland, Fay; Xu, ZhiyiThis research aims to reveal the interactions between e-shopping and in-store shopping using a sample of Internet users in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. This report summarizes previous research on the interactions among spatial attributes, e-shopping, and travel behavior and makes eight recommendations for future research. Guided by the recommendations, this study adopts an innovative research design by integrating a conventional shopping survey with an activity diary. This report provides a detailed description of survey development and implementation and points out several common pitfalls in survey administration. This report also presents results on the interactions. Specifically, two ordered probit models and structural equation models were developed to investigate the influence of geography on online shopping usage and the influence of e-shopping on traditional shopping.Item International travel, contraceptive use, and sexual behavior: A mixed methods study of female university students(2017-10) Martins, SummerBACKGROUND Adolescence and young adulthood are critical life stages for maintaining sexual and reproductive health (SRH), especially for women. There is a vast research literature dedicated to the determinants of young women’s SRH and related risk behaviors—e.g., contraception and condom use. While the factors influencing women’s SRH are broadly understood, it is less clear how risk mechanisms operate within specific contexts. Illuminating the unique settings that exacerbate or mitigate young women’s SRH risks could guide the development of more potent interventions. This dissertation examines young women’s SRH in the context of international travel. Traveling to a foreign country precipitates an abrupt shift in women’s psychosocial, physical, and cultural environments that may, in turn, influence SRH risk behaviors. Existing studies focus on travelers’ sexual behaviors in predominantly European and clinic-based samples. Data for women are mostly limited to prevalence estimates. Notably, no published studies report on women’s use of contraception, other than condoms, during international travel. With few studies comparing travelers with non-travelers, it is also unclear whether SRH outcomes are attributable to travel itself or if high-risk individuals disproportionately engage in international travel. DATA SOURCE We conducted a mixed-methods study of female university students who had traveled outside the United States in the past three months (“Traveler”) or planned to do so in the next three months (“Pre-Traveler”). Participants had a history of sex with men and considered the United States their home country. For the quantitative study, Travelers, (n=340) and Pre-Travelers (n=170) completed a cross-sectional online survey about their SRH and recent or upcoming trip (“index trip”). In the retrospective portion of the survey, Travelers reported on their index trip and Pre-Travelers for a recent period of similar duration in the United States. The qualitative study consisted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 25 Travelers and 19 Pre-Travelers. This dissertation is presented in three manuscripts, whose aims, methods, and results are described below. MANUSCRIPT 1 Aim: To evaluate whether traveling internationally increases young women’s risk of adverse SRH outcomes, compared to not traveling. Methods: Using multivariable modified Poisson regression, we estimated relative risk of contraceptive lapse (errors or non-adherence) and new male sexual partnership associated with international travel (Travelers) versus staying in the United States (Pre-Travelers). Results: During international travel, women were no more likely to lapse on their contraception (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.83—1.32) but were 70% more likely to report a new male sex partner (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.07—2.74). MANUSCRIPT 2 Aim: To describe the prevalence and correlates of contraceptive lapse among young women during international travel. Methods: In this exploratory analysis of surveyed Travelers (n=340), we examined crude bivariate associations between contraceptive lapse and potential correlates in three domains: baseline/pre-travel variables, travel characteristics and experiences, and SRH-related travel variables. Correlates associated with lapse at p<.20 were evaluated using multivariable modified Poisson regression, including two sensitivity analyses restricted to pill users and women who had sex while traveling. Results: Prevalence of contraceptive lapse was 29% overall and especially high among pill users (50%) and travelers who had trouble communicating with male sex partners about contraception (57%). Multivariable correlates of lapse were: using the pill (RR 4.51, 95% CI 2.57—7.94) compared to other or no contraception; trip duration of >30 days versus 1-7 days (RR 2.02, 95% CI 1.14—3.57); having trouble communicating with a male sex partner about contraception (RR 1.79, 95% CI 1.16—2.75); a high perceived impact of language barriers (RR 1.77, 95% CI 1.02—3.08); and perceiving local access to abortion as difficult (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.22—2.27). There was a trend toward increased lapse risk among participants who had difficulty maintaining their contraceptive schedule while traveling across time zones (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.00—1.91). Findings were generally similar in sensitivity analyses except for attenuation in the effect for pill use among sexually active travelers (RR 2.47, 95% CI 1.14—5.35). MANUSCRIPT 3 Aim: To characterize the spectrum and antecedents of young women’s sexual and contraceptive behaviors during international travel. Methods: We analyzed qualitative interview transcripts to identify themes related to: (1) Participants’ pre-travel expectations of sex; (2) The circumstances surrounding their sexual encounters with men while traveling; (3) Negotiation of condoms and contraception with these sex partners; and (4) Facilitators and barriers affecting contraceptive adherence. Results: Participants frequently expected to be abstinent during travel, citing myriad rationales that included personal values, no perceived opportunities for sex, and the nature of the trip. Some Travelers had unexpected sexual encounters, which were typified by health-promoting behaviors but also by unprotected sex, substance use, and condom errors. New sexual partnerships were fueled by increased attention from men, situational disinhibition, and heightened intimacy among travel companions. We observed an array of contraceptive considerations brought on by international travel—e.g., procuring extra supplies, adjusting schedules, and maintaining use during air travel—and obstacles that triggered contraceptive lapses and discontinuation. The logistical requirements of travel magnified differences between contraceptive methods: challenges were most acute for pill users, while women with intrauterine devices appreciated their maintenance-free contraception. CONCLUSION Young women may be at higher risk of new sexual partnership during international travel, while contraceptive lapse is frequent in both travel and non-travel settings. During international travel, risk of contraceptive lapse varies by women’s chosen contraceptive method as well as trip-specific factors. Pre-departure counseling by clinicians and other travel specialists should address travel-related barriers to women’s contraceptive use, prepare women for the possibility of unexpected sexual encounters, and encourage behavioral strategies that prevent both unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.Item The Interplay of Leisure Travelers’ Stress, Coping, and Acculturation Strategies: A Study of Korean Immigrants(2020-12) Choi, AmiGiven the projected diversity among the U.S. national population by 2065, immigrant leisure travelers will increase, are unique and understudied. In a three-article format, this dissertation examines immigrant leisure travelers’ stress, coping, revisit intention, and acculturation among Korean immigrants residing in the United States. The first article proposes an adapted framework that incorporates acculturation as a sociocultural factor underlying immigrants’ leisure travel stress experiences. The second article assesses the relationships within the stress and coping model including primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, coping, and revisit intention using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that leisure travelers experienced stress across travel phases, employed both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies to manage stress, and that coping positively related to revisit intentions. The utility and application of the transactional stress and coping model was demonstrated and supported. The third article identifies leisure travel stressors encountered in three select travel phases, and examines if and how acculturation strategies Korean immigrants use to adjust to the new culture differentiates them. Findings revealed perceived travel stress differed by acculturation strategies at all three travel phases and within select individual stressors. Overall, those seeking marginalization and separation perceived significantly higher stress levels than those seeking integration and assimilation. Implications for theory and management and future research are discussed for each chapter.Item ‘New urbanism’ or metropolitan-level centralization? A comparison of the influences of metropolitan-level and neighborhood-level urban form characteristics on travel behavior(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011) Naess, PetterBased on a study in the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area, this paper compares the influences of macro-level and micro-level urban form characteristics on the respondents’ traveling distance by car on weekdays. The Copenhagen study shows that metropolitan-scale urban- structural variables generally exert stronger influences than neighborhood-scale built-environment characteristics on the amount of car travel. In particular, the location of the residence relative to the main city center of the metropolitan region shows a strong effect. Some local scale variables often described as influential in the literature, such as neighborhood street pattern, show no significant effect on car travel when provisions are made to control for the location of the dwelling relative to the city center.Item Residential location, travel, and energy use in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2010) Naess, PetterThis paper presents the results of a study examining the influence of residential location on travel behavior in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area, China. The location of the dwelling relative to the center hierarchy of the metropolitan area is found to exert a considerable influence on the travel behavior of the respondents. On average, living close to the center of Hangzhou contributes to less overall travel, a higher proportion of trips by bicycle and on foot, and lower consumption of energy for transport. The location of the dwelling relative to the closest second-order and third-order center also influences travel, but not to the same extent as proximity to the city center. These geographical differences in travel behavior are independent of residential preferences and of attitudes toward transport and environmental issues, and therefore cannot be explained by residential self-selection.Item Response to Van Wee and Boarnet(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Naess, PetterThis is a reaction to the paper available at https://hdl.handle.net/11299/171221.Item Tempest in a teapot: The exaggerated problem of transport-related residential self-selection as a source of error in empirical studies(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Naess, PetterWhile numerous studies have investigated influences of built environment characteristics on travel behavior, many scholars are concerned about the confounding effect of residential self-selection. This paper argues that the existence of transport-attitude-based residential self-selection hardly represents any threat to the validity of the basic knowledge on how residential location within urban contexts influences travel behavior. The causal mechanisms by which residential location influences travel behavior exist regardless of whether or not transport-related residential self-selection occurs. Moreover, the cases presented in this paper suggest that residential self-selection based on attitudes to travel is unlikely to represent any great source of error for parameter estimates of the effects of residential location variables on travel behavior as long as “traditional” demographic and socioeconomic variables have already been accounted for. The doubts raised by certain scholars about the implications of attitude-based residential self-selection for the validity of the knowledge base of land use and transportation policies thus appear to be not very well-founded.Item TREATMENT of MALARIA(2008-02-05) Mathews, BenjiMalaria is an insect borne disease widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It causes about 400–900 million cases of fever and approximately one to three million deaths annually - this represents at least one death every 30 seconds. The vast majority of cases occur in children under the age of 5 years. Preventative medications and personal protection measures against insect bites are important safeguards when travelling to a malaria-endemic areas. Chloroquine is the used in non-resistant areas for prophylaxis. In areas of chloroquine-resistance, Malarone, Doxycycline or Lariam are used.