Short and user-friendly: The development and validation of the Mini-DBQ

Abstract

The Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) is used to measure aberrant driver behavior by asking drivers how often they engage in various aberrant driver behaviors. Since the development of the original DBQ, several modified versions have been developed. The difference between the various versions is that new items are added or existing items modified or excluded. However, despite the differences, all versions are relatively long and therefore time-consuming and tiring to answer, which might limit the usability of the instrument. The main purpose of the present study was to develop a mini DBQ version by reducing the 27-item original DBQ to the shortest possible DBQ version. A second aim was to explore the feasibility of a second-order structure within the data, which means that violations, errors and lapses factors load on a higher-order aberrant driver behavior factor. The presence of a second-order structure further indicates the validity of the DBQ and its theoretical structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the fit (i.e., how well the models explain the data) of the original DBQ versus the fit of the shortest possible DBQ, as well as the presence of a second-order structure for the DBQ. The results identified a nine-item Mini-DBQ. In addition, a second-order structure was established in the data. These findings indicate that the Mini-DBQ is a valid and useful short measure of aberrant driver behavior.

E-bike safety: Individual-level factors and incident characteristics

“…The inclusion of different aspects related to riding style and road user behaviour, such as a standardised measurement of violations, errors and lapses (cf. Martinussen et al, 2013) would give more insight into this and is suggested for future studies.…”

AUDIT-C score and its association with risky behaviours among professional drivers

“…A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 8 DBQ (Martinussen et al, 2013) has items, like "Getting involved in unofficial "races" with other car drivers", "Forgetting where you left your car in a multi-level car park" or "Getting into the wrong lane at a roundabout or approaching a road junction", all of which are less relevant behaviours for PDs. The items that we decided to include are relevant because they deal with behaviours that may stem from doing monotonous tasks, such as driving on a highway.…”

Measurement invariance of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire across samples of young drivers from Finland and Ireland

“…The meta-analysis of De Winter & Dodou (2010) showed that these two factors can be used as common denominators for the various factor structures encountered in the literature. This is a noteworthy finding because the instrument comes in many versions, comprising anything from 10 (Martinussen, Lajunen, Møller, & Özkan, 2013) to 112 (Kontogiannis et al, 2002) items. The basic distinction between voluntary and involuntary forms of traffic behavior has its roots in the theory of errors presented in Reason (1990).…”