Identifying a broad range of psychological characteristics associated with unsafe driving behaviors

Abstract

Unsafe driving behaviors (UDBs) represent one of the most consequential classes of behavior in public health. The present study aims to identify a greater range of psychological and behavioral characteristics associated with UDBs, with a special focus on identifying characteristics varying in their associations with different UDBs. Data was analyzed from the Eugene-Springfield Community Study (ESCS) linking self-ratings of the 2539-item International Personality Item Pool (IPIP; Goldberg et al., 2006) to self-reports of four UDBs: speeding, driving after drinking alcohol, driving without a seatbelt, and consuming food or drinks while driving. A subset of 176 IPIP items were identified as having non-trivial relations with the four UDBs, which were then organized into 20 more specific clusters. Some groups were commonly predictive of all four UDBs, such as tendencies to break rules, to view cheating as acceptable, or to talk impulsively. Others were mainly predictive of one UDB but not others. For instance, religiosity was uniquely predictive of lower tendencies to drive after drinking alcohol, whereas negative self-perceptions were uniquely predictive of greater tendencies to drive without a seatbelt. The results provide a more molecular, fine-grained picture of the characteristics associated with UDBs, which can inform larger models of why people engage in UDBs, and why they perform some but not others.