Survey data on 478 residential electricity consumers in Massachusetts are used to examine the interactive effects of economic, demographic, structural, and psychological variables on four behaviorally distinct types of reported conservation response involving energy efficiency improvements or curtailment of the services energy provides. The causal model assumes that contextual variables (i.e., demographic, economic, and structural) may affect behavior indirectly through personal variables (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, norms) and that between personal variables, causality moves from the general through the specific to reported behavior. A path analysis incorporating these assumptions suggested that although behaviors that are relatively unconstrained for most households (such as temperature settings) are strongly influenced by norms, personal variables have much less influence on more constrained actions (such as major insulation activity). The effect of high and rising fuel price was stronger in producing economic sacrifice than in producing energy savings. Limits to generalizability are discussed.

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The hypothesis that specific attitudes are more highly correlated with behavior than general attitudes was tested in a field setting. The current study was designed to eliminate several potentially confounding factors in previous experiments. Sampling from the customers of a major oil company in early 1973, actual purchase behavior was observed for 147 lead-free gasoline customers and for 156 regular gasoline buyers, and the buyers' attitudes and beliefs about gasoline and air pollution were ascertained by a mailed questionnaire for these buyers; this questionnaire response represented 68% of the initially observed buyers. Eight attitude scales were constructed and ranked empirically into four levels of specificity. Scales contained three to six items, and reliabilities ranged from .58 to ,87 (Cronbach's alpha). As predicted, the attitude-behavior correlation for the most general scale was the lowest (r = .118, p < .05); the next level of correlations ranged from .147 to .214; the two more specific scales on the following level had still higher correlations with behavior (r = .364, r -.385); and the two scales on the most specific attitude level had the highest correlations with behavior (r -A9<), r = .594). This pattern held when correlations were corrected for unreliability in the attitude measures. The results provide a confirmation of the hypothesis, which removes some of the restrictions of earlier studies.

An implicit assumption underlying government strategies to achieve a more sustainable urban transportation system is that all automobile users will be encouraged or persuaded to use more "green" transportation: public transportation, walking and cycling. Little consideration has been given as to how sustainable transportation policies and programmes might impact on different age groups in society, including those retired or semi-retired, despite the fact that an unprecedented number of older drivers will be on the highways in the next few decades. There is limited literature on the contextual factors behind their continued reliance on automobiles, their actual driving behavior (e.g., route choice and time of day to drive) framed within the context of social sustainability. This paper introduces the elements of transportation and social sustainability then conducts a comprehensive international literature review focusing on older drivers, their travel choices and associated social sustainability issues. It describes a case study, low-density city and presents empirical evidence, from two surveys conducted in Canberra, Australia. The paper concludes with future research directions that address these issues associated with sustainable transportation. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 7290

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