Does commuting affect health and well-being: If so for whom?

对于那些工作的人来说，通勤是一天中重要的一部分，这限制了个人对时间的使用。近年来，用于通勤的时间有所增加；这一趋势并不是英国独有的。人们非常担心通勤负担对健康和福祉的潜在有害影响。此外，还有一种更普遍的关注，即工作人口的压力水平和心理问题，似乎是由于对时间的需求不断增加，以及保持适当的工作和生活平衡的问题造成的。通勤可能对健康和福祉造成不利影响的原因有很多。例如，通勤是一种压力的原因，因为它不可预测和感觉到的失控导致焦虑、血压升高和肌肉骨骼问题(Evans等人，2002；Kolowsky等人，1995)；并可能导致无聊和社会孤立(Gatersleben&Uzzell，2007；Putnam，2000)。另一方面，一些评论家指出了通勤的潜在积极方面，可以提供单独工作、阅读或思考的时间，或者干脆放松工作(Lyons等人，2007；Ory和Mokhtarian，2005；Redmond和Mokhtarian，2001)。这些潜在的相互竞争的影响中，哪一种占主导地位，可能在一定程度上取决于交通方式、个人对旅程的控制程度以及通勤时间。如果通勤是劳动力幸福感下降的原因，政策制定者和雇主应该感到担忧；不仅因为人口的主观幸福感本身可能是一个政策目标，而且还因为，正如Bryson等人(2015)所表明的那样，工人幸福感和企业生产率之间存在明显的正向关系。剔除混杂因素的影响，估计CT对SWB的影响，对于适当地为政策提供信息是重要的。然而，确定因果关系是困难的，因为有多种因素，研究人员在很大程度上没有观察到这些因素，例如决定主观幸福感和CT的个人和家庭偏好。我们的工作开发了一种方法，通过观察工作地点搬迁或交通基础设施变化对通勤时间的冲击来确定这种因果关系。我们的目标是(因果地)确定通勤是否以及如果是这样的话，通勤是否会因为损失SWB或健康而使人失去效用。然后将探讨决定CT对个体的不同H&SWB影响的机制，特别关注性别差异和家庭内部决策。例如，与男性相比，由于承担了更多的家庭和照顾孩子的责任，女性可能会更看重通勤时放弃的时间。然后，我们将寻求用金钱来量化个人通勤所面临的不利影响。鉴于通勤距离(以及通勤时间)通常是在家庭层面上与在哪里生活和工作的决定一起确定的，一个重要的相关问题是，个人经历的通勤负担是否被其他家庭成员的主观幸福感的收益所抵消。我们的目标是通过两个大规模的家庭调查来协调这些研究问题的证据。这项研究的一个重要方面将涉及将研究结果转化为政策制定者和其他参与有关通勤、其对健康和福祉的影响以及不同交通方式的辩论的人能够理解的结果。我们预计，新闻部将对许多新出现的结果感兴趣，特别是了解按性别和其他群体分列的旅行负担的差异以及个人对通勤时间的重视。为此，我们正在与运输部进行对话(见关于影响的一节)。

Commuting is an important part of the day for those who work placing a constraint on an individual's use of time. Recent years have seen an increase in time devoted to commuting; a trend which is not unique to the UK. There is much concern about the potential detrimental effect to health and well-being the burden of commuting imposes. This can be seen alongside a more general concern with levels of stress and psychological problems among the working population, which appear to arise from an ever-increasing demand on time and the problems of maintaining an appropriate work-life balance.There are a number of reasons why commuting might adversely affect health and well-being. For example, commuting is a cause of stress arising from its unpredictability and perceived loss of control leading to anxiety, raised blood pressure and musculoskeletal problems (Evans et al., 2002; Kolowsky et al., 1995); and can lead to boredom and social isolation (Gatersleben & Uzzell, 2007; Putnam, 2000). Some commentators, on the other hand, point to potential positive aspects of commuting, in providing time alone to work, read or think, or to simply wind down following work (Lyons et al., 2007; Ory and Mokhtarian, 2005; Redmond and Mokhtarian, 2001). Which of these potentially competing effects dominates is likely to be determined in part by mode of transport, the degree to which an individual has control over the journey and the time spent commuting. If commuting is the cause of lower well-being in the workforce, policy makers and employers should be concerned; not only because subjective well-being of the population may be a policy target in itself, but also because, as Bryson et al (2015) have shown, there is a clear positive relationship between worker well-being and firm productivity. Estimating the effect of CT on SWB, stripped of the influence of confounding factors, is important to appropriately inform policy. Establishing causality is however difficult, due to a variety of factors, that are largely unobserved by the researcher, such as individual and household preferences, determining both SWB and CT. Our work develops a method for establishing this causal effect based on observing shocks to commuting time due to either a relocation of place of employment or a change in transport infrastructure. Our aim is to establish (causally) whether, and if so, for whom commuting confers disutility through a loss in either SWB or health. The mechanisms that determine the differential H&SWB effects of CT across individuals will then be explored, with a particular focus on gender differences and intra-household decision making. For example, compared to men, women may place a higher valuation of time foregone when commuting due to greater family and childcare commitments. We will then seek to quantify in monetary terms the disutility individuals face from commuting. Given that commuting distance (and hence time) is often determined at the household level in conjunction with decisions over where to live and work, an important related question is whether the burden of commuting experienced by an individual is offset by gains in SWB of other household members. We aim to reconcile evidence on these research questions across two large and substantial household-based surveys.An important aspect of the research will involve translating the findings such that they are understandable to policy makers and others involved in debates around commuting, its effect on health and wellbeing and different modes of transport. We expect that that many of the emerging results will be of interest to the Department, in particular understanding differences in the burden of travel by gender and other groups and the valuation individuals place on commuting time. To this end we have an ongoing dialogue with the Department of Transport (see section on impact).