Associations of the Light Triad with Driving Style and Driving Anger Expression

Abstract

Previous research on personality in the driving context mostly focused on the negative and maladaptive personality traits. The present study investigated the links between the Light Triad traits with driving style and driving anger expression. The Light Triad framework emphasizes the positive side of the personality and it consists of humanism, faith in humanity, and Kantianism. A total of 376 active drivers (50.3 % women) aged between 18 and 70 completed the online questionnaire including the Light Triad Scale (Kaufman et al., 2019), Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ; Reason et al., 1990), and Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX, Deffenbacher et al., 2002). Ordinary violations, aggressive violations, and positive driver behaviors subscales of the DBQ were used to measure driving style, and the DAX was used to measure the aggressive and adaptive/constructive forms of driving anger expression. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations of the Light Triad traits with each driving style and driving anger expression dimension after controlling for age, gender, and total mileage. The findings generally supported the expected associations. That is, some traits of the Light Triad yielded negative associations with aberrant driver behaviors and aggressive forms of driving anger. On the other hand, the opposite pattern was found in the analyses with positive driver behaviors and adaptive/constructive expression of driving anger. The findings are discussed in the light of relevant literature.