Driving anger and anger expression in drivers with depression and anxiety disorders.

Abstract

Previous research revealed that driving anger and negative anger expression styles are risk factors for accidents and violent behaviors in traffic. Besides, the feeling of anger often accompanies psychiatric disorders. These two situations raise the question of whether individuals receiving psychiatric treatment are angrier in traffic environments. This study aims to compare drivers with depression or anxiety disorders and drivers without any psychiatric disease regarding driver anger and anger expression styles. For this purpose, individuals with depression or anxiety disorders (n:119) were compared to the non-patient control group (n:119) in terms of driving anger and anger expression by using the driving anger scale (DAS) and the driving anger expression inventory (DAX). SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, there was no significant difference between patients with depression or anxiety disorders and the control group in terms of driving anger and driving anger expression based on the scores of DAS and DAX subscales (p >0.05). These findings indicate that drivers with depression or anxiety disorders do not differ from non-psychiatric drivers regarding angry thoughts and behaviors in traffic. These results provide a new perspective for psychiatrists responsible for psychotechnical and driving license assessments.