Multilevel structural equation model for activity participation and travel behavior: Data from the Puget Sound Transportation Panel

A multilevel structural equation model (SEM) is applied to handle the hierarchical nature of the data and explain complex relationships among socioeconomic factors for individuals and households, activity participation, and travel behavior by using data from Wave 3 of the Puget Sound Transportation Panel. On the basis of the model structure, variations in individual activity participation and travel behavior can be divided into two categories: within-household variation and between-household variation. Empirical results show that the interdependency index of leisure activity duration for household members within a household has a value of 0.33, indicating high interdependency. Total travel time duration likewise has a value of 0.26, indicating high similarity. These results suggest that the multilevel SEM approach is an appropriate modeling methodology and can provide additional information on activity and travel behavior. The effects from exogenous variables on endogenous variables developed in this study also provide meaningful and interpretable results, which are consistent with results of previous studies. Most personal and household characteristics influence activity participation and travel behavior within a household as well as between households.