The relationship between subjective well-being and individual characteristics, personality traits, and choice of transport mode during the first lock-down in Milan, Italy

Abstract

Introduction

Concerning the adverse effect of COVID-19 virus pandemic on subjective well-being and daily travel, this research sought to analyse which personal characteristics, personality traits, and transport modes are related to positive and negative affect, and satisfaction with life during the first lock-down in Milan, Italy.

Method

In the spring of 2020, an online survey was conducted in Milan, and 1025 responses were collected. Then, three Multinomial Ordinal Regression models (MNOR) are carried out to examine the relationship between the data.

Results

Results show that women were more likely to feel fewer positive emotions than men. More physical activity, and income were positively associated with the models. Significant relevance of personality traits with subjective well-being is reported Regarding daily mobility during the pandemic, transport mode after lock-down, satisfaction with public transport, and worry about using public transport were found relevant to subjective wellbeing.

Conclusions

Whereas the feeling of worry about using public transport increased the negative affect. Transport mode during lock-down was not related to subjective well-being, though the preferred mode of transport after lock-down was related to satisfaction with life. Respondents who chose to use private cars more than other modes of transport were more likely to have higher satisfaction with life. Findings are discussed to improve transport and mobility planning during pandemics.