Associations between psychoactive substance use and sensation seeking behavior among drivers in Norway

Abstract

Background/aim: Drug use and risky driving is associated with sensation seeking. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between use of psychoactive substances and levels of the sensation seeking personality trait as measured with the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale 4 among drivers in Norway. Method: A cross-sectional design was applied to estimate the association between psychoactive substance use and sensation seeking behavior. Drivers in normal traffic were included in two roadside surveys: one in the north (September 2014-October 2015) and the other in the southeast of Norway (April 2016-April 2017). Oral fluid was analyzed for alcohol and psychoactive drugs, and data on sex, age and time of participation were recorded. Participants filled in the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale 4 questionnaire. Results: A total of 8053 drivers were included, of which 32% were women and 62% were under 40 years. The prevalence of alcohol was 0.3%, stimulants 0.6%, tetrahydrocannabinol 1.4%, benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics 2.0% and polydrug use 0.6%. Associations were found between the use of tetrahydrocannabinol or benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics and a low score on the "thrill and adventure seeking" domain of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale 4 (OR = 1.723, 95% C.I. = 1.001-2.966). Associations were also found between the use of stimulants and the highest scores on the "experience seeking" (OR = 2.085, 95% C.I. = 1.084-4.009) and "disinhibition" (OR = 4.791, 95% C.I. =1.748-13.135) domains of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale 4. No associations were found between sensation seeking behavior and alcohol or polydrug use. Conclusion: A high degree of sensation seeking was found among drivers who had used stimulating drugs, in contrast to drives who had used tetrahydrocannabinol and benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics who showed a low degree of sensation seeking. The combination of sensation seeking behavior and the use of stimulants might lead to increased risky behavior and thus traffic crashes.

Escala Búsqueda de Sensaciones (Forma V) de Zuckerman estudio psicométrico en población adolescente Mexicana

“…Respecto a las evidencias de validez, las moderadas correlaciones positivas entre la escala total y dos subescalas (BE y DES) con la impulsividad de Plutchik, la CRAFFT y el CDTC son las esperadas. Coin-ciden con las relaciones halladas en otros estudios entre Búsqueda de sensaciones e impulsividad (Merchán-Clavellino et al, 2020;Aluja et al, 2009;Archer et al, 2012;Laplana et al, 2014), el abuso de sustancias (Chen et al, 2013;Jamt et al, 2020;Lydon-Staley, Falk, & Bassett, 2019;Schmidt, Molina & Raimundi, 2017) y la sintomatología de comportamiento antisocial (Aluja et al, 2009;Archer et al, 2012;Laplana et al, 2014). La ausencia de relación con la escala BAE también se han reportado en otros estudios por ejemplo en el de Merchán-Clavellino et al, (2020) respecto a la impulsividad, y también en el de Schmidt, Molina & Raimundi (2017), el único estudio en el que se estudió la relación de cada subescala con el consumo de sustancias (concretamente alcohol), se reportó una correlación muy baja entre el consumo de alcohol y la subescala BAE (las otras mostraron correlaciones moderadas).…”

“…Las bases biológicas, incluidas las genéticas del rasgo de BS son notables (Aluja et al, 2019;Oberlin et al, 2019), aunque también muestra sensibilidad al ambiente (Stoel, De Geus & Boomsma, 2006). Asimismo, se asocia con conducción temeraria (Qu, Zhang & Ge, 2020), consumo de sustancias (Chen et al, 2013;Jamt et al, 2020;Lydon-Staley, Falk, & Bassett, 2019;Merchán-Clavellino et al, 2020;Schmidt, Molina & Raimundi, 2017), conductas sexuales de riesgo (Chen et al, 2013;Dunne et al, 2019;Longo et al, 2020) aunque en otros estudios no se observa dicha asociación (Espinoza et al, 2019). También se ha estudiado la relación con conductas de riesgo de forma genérica (Lydon-Staley, Falk, & Bassett, 2019;Safa et al, 2019).…”

Mobile Phone Use “on the Road”: A Self-Report Study on Young Drivers

“…Traditionally, some personality traits have been studied in relation to their ability to affect risky driving behavior (Ulleberg and Rundmo, 2003;Dahlen et al, 2005;Schwebel et al, 2006;Tao et al, 2017;Al-Tit, 2020). Recent research found that, among these personality factors, sensation seeking is a predictor of risky driving behavior (Lemarié et al, 2019;Jamt et al, 2020;Qu et al, 2020).…”

Preschool Exposure to Online Games and Internet Gaming Disorder in Adolescents: A Cohort Study

“…However, concerns have been raised regarding whether early exposure to online games may lead to harmful effects on physical and mental health in adolescence (1)(2)(3). Among video gaming and various internet activities, online gaming appears to be associated with increased propensities for addiction (4), with much existing research focusing on negative consequences of gaming (5,6).…”