Automobiles are central to participation in economic, social, and cultural activities in the United States. The ability to drive as one ages is fundamental to the quality of life among older adults. Driving rates decline significantly with age. Researchers using cross-sectional data have studied the reasons former drivers have stopped driving, but few have followed individuals over time to examine changes in relationships among driving cessation, socio-demographics, and health conditions. We used longitudinal data from a national sample of 20,000 observations from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine relationships among demographic variables, health conditions, and driving reduction and driving cessation. Longitudinal data allow analysis of generational differences in behavior, a major advantage over cross-sectional data which only allow comparisons of different people at one point in time. We found, like many other studies, that personal decisions to limit and eventually stop driving vary with sex, age, and health conditions. In addition, unlike most previous studies, we also found that those relationships differ by birth cohort with younger cohorts less likely to stop and limit their driving than their older counterparts. The findings indicate an evolution in the association between driving cessation and its causes.

汽车对于参与美国的经济，社会和文化活动至关重要。一岁开车的能力是老年人生活质量的基础。随年龄增长，驾驶率显着下降。使用横截面数据的研究人员研究了前驾驶员停止驾驶的原因，但很少有人随时间追踪个人以检查驾驶停止，社会人口统计学和健康状况之间的关系变化。我们使用了来自密歇根大学健康与退休研究（HRS）的20,000个观测值的全国样本的纵向数据，以研究人口统计学变量，健康状况以及驾驶减退和停止驾驶之间的关系。纵向数据可以分析行为的世代差异，与横截面数据相比，这是一个主要优势，后者仅允许在一个时间点比较不同的人。与许多其他研究一样，我们发现限制和最终停止驾驶的个人决定会随性别，年龄和健康状况而变化。此外，与以往的大多数研究不同，我们还发现这些关系在出生队列方面有所不同，与较年长的同类相比，较年轻的队列更不可能停止和限制驾驶。研究结果表明，驾驶停止及其原因之间的联系在不断发展。我们还发现，这些关系在出生人群方面有所不同，与较年长的同龄人相比，较年轻的人群停止和限制驾驶的可能性较小。研究结果表明，驾驶停止及其原因之间的联系在不断发展。我们还发现，这些关系在出生人群方面有所不同，与较年长的同龄人相比，较年轻的人群更不可能停止和限制驾驶。研究结果表明，驾驶停止及其原因之间的联系在不断发展。