TIMES ARE NOT LIKE BEFORE: An intergenerational study about experiences in Children’s Travel Behavior in Quito, Ecuador.

Abstract

Children’s mobility has been analyzed mainly in developed countries. The decrease of independence in children’s mobility and its consequence is already taking attention research worldwide, however, in Latin America, this topic is still unknown. To better bring insight into that, the present research analyzes travel experiences of 12- year-old from eight families in Quito, Ecuador, over three generations. The analysis explores mobility patterns, factors influencing, and the correlation with the development of independence in children’s mobility. The results confirm different experiences in travel behaviors across generations, influenced by factors such as social-economic context, level of responsibilities within the home, family size, and parents' confidence in children. All these factors have a strong sociocultural condition that promotes only the development of children's independent mobility in previous generations G1, and G2.