Who is a Distracted Driver? Associations between Mobile Phone Use while Driving, Domain‐Specific Risk Taking, and Personality

Abstract

Mobile phone use while driving (MPUWD) is an increasingly common form of distracted driving. Given its widespread prevalence, it is important for researchers to identify factors that may predict who is more likely to engage in this risky behavior. The current study investigates associations between MPUWD risk behaviors, domain-specific risk perceptions, and broad personality dimensions. An Italian community sample (n = 804) completed a survey regarding MPUWD risk perceptions and engagement in MPUWD, in addition to the HEXACO-PI-R, a broad six-factor personality inventory (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience), and the DOSPERT, a six-factor domain-specific self-report risk-taking measure (health/safety, recreational, social, ethical, gambling, and investment). With respect to domain-specific risk taking, greater frequency of SMS use while driving most strongly was associated with greater risk taking for the health/safety, gambling, and ethical risk domains. Further, greater honesty-humility and conscientiousness, two traits related to cognitive control and risk behaviors, and to a lesser extent openness to experience, were associated with less frequent MPUWD, and positively associated with MPUWD risk perceptions. With growing public safety concern surrounding MPUWD, understanding associated personality factors is not only important for identifying psychological mechanisms underlying risk behavior, but also for more effective prevention and intervention programs.

Should I Text or Call Here? A Situation‐Based Analysis of Drivers’ Perceived Likelihood of Engaging in Mobile Phone Multitasking

“…Drivers with higher disinhibition scores are associated with more likelihood of distracted driving in any of the scenarios tested. The results confirm some previous studies that linked disinhibition (Sanbonmatsu, Strayer, Medeiros-Ward, & Watson, 2013;Sween et al, 2017) and personality (Sween et al, 2017) with multitasking activity and mobile phone use while driving. The disinhibition component of sensation seeking is associated with ''seeking release'' or ''disinhibited social behavior.''…”

“…In addition, personality factors have been reported to be of great importance in the study of mobile phone use while driving. A recent study by Sween, Ceschi, Tommasi, Sartori, and Weller (2017) suggested that drivers' personality (sensation seeking, honesty/humility, and conscientiousness) is related to risky driving behaviors and risk perception. Therefore, without a proper consideration of these unobserved variables, it may not be realistic to assume that the effects of the available explanatory variables can be equally applied across all individuals.…”

Who uses a mobile phone while driving for food delivery? The role of personality, risk perception, and driving self-efficacy

“…By introducing smartphone addiction as the potential mediating variable, Kita and Luria (2018) displayed openness to experience decreased while extraversion and neuroticism increased the likelihood of smartphone use while driving, but the moderation effect of smartphone addiction only worked on the relationship between neuroticism and smartphone use while driving. Sween, Ceschi, Tommasi, Sartori, and Weller (2017) recorded risk perceptions acted as a mediating role on the relationships between four HEXACO dimensions (honesty/humility, conscientiousness, openness and emotionality) and the self-reported frequency of mobile phone use while driving. These studies confirm that certain personality traits significantly correlate to MPUWD behaviors, and that there may be some variables moderate the effects of personality traits on MPUWD behaviors.…”

“…A 16-item MPUWD risk perception scale was previously developed to assess the associated risk attitudes to MPUWD (Weller, Shackleford, Dieckmann, & Slovic, 2013), which had been modified to investigate the correlation between MPUWD and its corresponding risk perceptions (Mirman, Durbin, Lee, & Seifert, 2017;Sween et al, 2017). Respondents were asked to complete a modified version of this scale to indicate their perceived risks by performing mobile phone tasks when driving for food delivery (e.g., "Browsing WeChat's Moments while driving takes a person's eyes off the road for too long.…”

Fuzzy System Dynamics Risk Analysis (FuSDRA) of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Operations in the Antarctic

“…In a more recent development, there has been an increasing interest in the contribution of intangible soft factors to risk, an aspect often neglected in the past due to difficulty in quantification. Using a myriad of different approaches, soft factors ranging from organizational safety culture (Guldenmund, 2010) to personal beliefs (Nakayachi, Johnson, & Koketsu, 2018) and personalities (Sween, Ceschi, Tommasi, Sartori, & Weller, 2017) are now being considered in many risk studies.…”