The Effects of Transportation and Distance on Voluntary Association Participation among the Aged

Abstract

In a community with neither public nor commercial transportation facilities for intra-community mobility, the availability of means of personal transportation is related to higher levels of voluntary association participation among the aged. Further analysis indicates that the role of transportation as an explanatory variable is greater both as distance of residence from the sites of associations increases and as the analytical focus shifts from the number of memberships to the frequency of attendance at association meetings. Also considered are the implications of these findings for explaining the generally lower levels of voluntary association participation of the elderly compared with other adult age groups.