Citation

Love S, Kannis-Dymand L, Larue GS, Rowland B. Transp. Res. F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 2024; 102: 1-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trf.2024.02.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Aggressive driving is an aberrant, complex, and resilient road behaviour. The concept of how people perceive mental processes has been shown to have a strong influence over how well emotion is regulated. This study aimed to develop and validate a new self-report measure of beliefs, the Beliefs about Driver Anger Questionnaire (BDAQ), that can predict mental processes known to be associated with driver aggression (i.e., anger rumination and anger). Two distinct Australian samples (N = 294; 165) completed online surveys regarding demographics, anger-related beliefs, self-regulatory ability, anti-social traits, and anger-related tendencies. Analyses were then implemented to test the internal and external validity of the measure. Specifically, principal components analysis and a subsequent confirmatory factor analysis revealed that five prominent beliefs emerged: positive beliefs about the utility of rumination and anger, negative beliefs about the controllability of rumination and anger, and antisocial beliefs about anger expression. Reliability tests showed that the subscales all demonstrated a sound internal consistency (α = 0.72 to 0.85). Bivariate correlations revealed evidence for concurrent validity, as the BDAQ subscales were positively associated with existing measures of metacognitive beliefs, self-regulatory dysfunction, anti-social traits, anger rumination, trait driver anger, and driver aggression. Finally, path analysis was used to test the predictive utility of the BDAQ and the associated theory behind the measure. The results showed that the BDAQ subscales both uniquely and indirectly influenced and explained sizeable portions of the variance in anger rumination (54.3%), driver anger (49.6%), and driver aggression (38.7%). Overall, the BDAQ appears to be a valid self-report measure of anger-related beliefs and is associated with psychological phenomena that underlie aggressive driving behaviour. The measure can therefore be used to better understand driver anger and how to intervene on the potentially dangerous behaviours that follow.

Language: en

Keywords

Driver aggression; Driver anger; Metacognition; Rumination; Self-regulation