Examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults’ activity participation and mode usage in a rural state: A case study of Arkansas

The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activity participation and mode usage of older adults residing in Arkansas, a predominantly rural state. Leveraging primary data collected from 832 older adult participants, the study employed Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to capture older adults’ heterogeneity in travel behavior and found three distinct classes: Pandemic-affected minimal travelers, Unaffected non-commuter car users, and Unaffected commuter car users, showing different levels of their activity participation, mode usage during the pandemic and varying the pandemic’s impact on their trips. To understand these variations in light of the older adults’ socio-demographic attributes, residential locations, and health perceptions, we added covariates in the LCA model to predict the class membership. Results from the class membership model revealed distinct differences among the identified classes. The Pandemic-affected minimal travelers (Class 1) were characterized by being female, having low socio-demographics, unemployment, non-driving status, poor health perceptions, and living in rural areas. This group experienced a greater pandemic impact on their activity participation and mode usage. In contrast, the Unaffected non-commuter car users (Class 2) were more likely to be male, White, urban older adults with higher incomes and better health perceptions. Despite sharing similar socio-demographic characteristics with Class 2, Unaffected commuter car users (Class 3) experienced more disruption in activity participation than non-commuters. Results from descriptive statistics showed that older adults’ personal and work trips were relatively less affected compared to their shopping and social trips. Regarding mode usage, car driving was significantly impacted across all classes, with the Pandemic-affected minimal travelers (Class 1) showing a particularly notable decrease. Active modes and non-driving transportation alternatives experienced minimal usage during the pandemic and also experienced a minimal impact across all classes. These findings can offer several policy insights, including addressing the unique needs of different groups of older adults, establishing connections between policies addressing the gender gap, health, transportation, rural–urban disparity, extending the role of family and communities in meeting older adults’ transportation needs, offering programs aimed at enhancing digital skills, promoting alternative transportation options, and raising awareness among older adults for making plans after their driving cessation.