PROJECT SUMMARY
11.2 million (23.5%) older adults report difficulty traveling outside their homes, making limited transportation
access a structural barrier to health. With over 7 million non-driving older adults and 7-10 non-driving years at
the end of life, alternative transportation options are needed. Lack of public transit accessibility can
disproportionally harm older adults with disabilities and may impact health behaviors, such as physical activity
and social participation. Physical activity and social participation are key components of healthy aging,
associated with cognition, quality of life, and mortality. To this end, identification of modifiable public transit
features, and their impact on physical activity and social participation among older adults with disabilities is
critically needed. The proposed research will examine the role of public transit on physical activity and social
participation among older adults with and without disabilities. This research will collect primary data on public
transit accessibility features and link them to the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Specifically, this
research will address the following aims: 1) Examine if self-reported public transit use is associated with
physical activity and social participation among older adults with and without disabilities, 2) Determine if the
accessibility of public transit systems is associated with physical activity and social participation behaviors
among older adults, 3) Test the hypotheses that public transit use partially mediates the link between public
transit features and (a) physical activity and/or (b) social participation among older adults. The proposed use of
NHATS, a rich, integrated data source will allow for investigation into whether public transit use interacts with
disability status to result in differential physical activity and social participation (Aim 1); if the density and
accessibility of public transit systems interact with disability status to affect physical activity and social
participation (Aim 2); and the mechanism through which disability, public transit features, and public transit use
shape physical activity and social participation among older adults (Aim 3). This research will examine if public
transit system access is associated with physical activity and social participation among older adults with
disabilities, a potential intervention target to optimize older adults’ ability to age in place. Identification of
modifiable, upstream factors could reduce health disparities among this population group. The findings from
this work will inform transportation development and planning about public transit systems which are inclusive
of older adults with disabilities.