Impulsivity, aggressiveness and personality evaluation in car drivers using STAXI, BIS-11 and TCI. La valutazione delle variabili impulsività, aggressività e personalità negli automobilisti mediante STAXI, BIS-11 E TCI

Abstract Objectives: The present study investigates the differences in personality and perception and management of anger and impulsivity, between subjects that lost points on driving license and those did not, among members of the Automobile Club d'Italia. Methods: Pamphlets, sent to 500 subjects, contained: a questionnaire investigating personal data and driving history, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), the State and Trait Anger eXpression Inventory (STAXI) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The BIS-11 investigates general impulsivity and other aspects like attentional, motor and nonplanning impulsivity. The STAXI gives information about experience, expression and control of anger. The TCI, informed on Cloninger's temperament and character theory of personality, consists of seven scales: Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence, Persistence, Self-Directness, Cooperativeness and Self-Transcendence. The differences between the two groups (subjects with/without lost points in driving licence) were tested using t-Student test. To evaluate the association between the loss of points and the variables examined in the questionnaires, we calculated odds ratios using logistic regression models. We used simple Correlation to investigate the dependence between the several scales of different tests. Results: 112 pamphlets were sent back, 36 of which reported loss of points. No significant difference emerged between this two groups according to age, sex, education, loss of points, type of traffic violation, and years of driving. Simple correlation (Table I) demonstrates a wide dependence between the scales of different tests. The t-Student test indicated that the subjects that committed traffic offences has a lower mean in Harm Avoidance (13.83 vs. 16.72; p = 0.027), T-Anger (18.22 vs. 20.4; p = 0.062), and T-Anger/T (6.22 vs. 7.19; p = 0.061) than those not reporting any offence. These results have been confirmed by logistic regression (Table III). HA turned out to be a protection factor for the loss of points (OR = 0.062; p = 0.031). Conclusions: No psychopathological aspect emerged from our analysis, but some temperamental profiles turned-out to influence traffic behavior. Harm Avoidance proved to be a protection factor, in other words people with high HA are less predisposed to engage in risky driving. New findings of this study, compared to current literature, are both the choice to investigate traffic violations rather than accidents, and the sample, which is not selected on the basis of committing violations nor by education; higher mean age (45.96) ensured appropriate integration and modulation of impulsivity and aggressiveness.