Plint, Janna (2008) Risk Perceptions, Stress Vulnerabilities, and Coping Strategies of Australian Drivers as Predictors of Risky Driving. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
In Australia, risky driving remains a prevalent health and safety problem, especially for younger males. Therefore, the present research aims to discover which dispositional and coping variables may contribute to risky driving, after controlling for age and gender. In particular, the research aims to examine which risk perceptions, stress vulnerabilities, and coping strategies of individual drivers, may lead to an increase in risky driving. By considering certain stress vulnerabilities, the present study is an extension of an honours project by Famularo (2007). For the present study, risky driving will be measured using speeding, as past research has shown it to be a key contributor to the risk of crashing. The 400 participants who completed the online Driving Attitudes Survey consisted of USQ psychology students, who completed the survey as part of a course requirement. Results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed all the risk perception variables examined, including Aversion to Risk Taking, Efficacy, and Worry and Concern, were significant predictors of Speeding, whilst controlling for Age and Gender. Of these variables, Aversion to Risk Taking was the most significant predictor of Speeding, accounting for 21% of the variance. Not surprisingly, both the stress vulnerability variables assessed, including Thrill-Seeking and Aggression, made unique significant contributions to the prediction of Speeding. In particular, Thrill-Seeking explained a further 6% of the variance, whilst Aggression explained 5% of the variance, after Age, Gender, and risk perception variables were controlled for. As predicted, Confrontive Coping was the only coping strategy examined to predict Speeding, contributing a further 3% of the variance, after the effects of Age, Gender, risk perception, and stress vulnerability variables were controlled for. Overall, the findings suggest, regardless of age and gender, confrontive, aggressive, and excitement-seeking behaviours, combined with higher confidence in driving skills, are linked to an increase in speeding. Such findings have tremendous influence in the development road safety campaigns, which could be refined to manage and prevent such behaviours. It is recommended future research consider analysing mediator effects between the significant variables and speeding. Benefits of such analyses include discovering which mechanisms influence a relationship between particular variables and Speeding.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Tony Machin |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2025 01:23 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2025 01:23 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52671 |
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