The Driving Anger Expression Inventory: a measure of how people express their anger on the road

Four ways people express their anger when driving were identified. Verbal Aggressive Expression (α=0.88) assesses verbally aggressive expression of anger (e.g., yelling or cursing at another driver); Personal Physical Aggressive Expression (α=0.81), the ways the person uses him/herself to express an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behaviour research and therapy 2002-06, Vol.40 (6), p.717-737
Main Authors: Deffenbacher, Jerry L., Lynch, Rebekah S., Oetting, Eugene R., Swaim, Randall C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aggression - psychology
Aggression while driving
Anger
Angry drivers
Applied psychology
Automobile drivers
Automobile Driving
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Driving behaviours
Expression of driving anger
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reproducibility of Results
Risk-Taking
Risky behaviour while driving
Road rage
Surveys and Questionnaires
Transportation. City planning
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Summary:Four ways people express their anger when driving were identified. Verbal Aggressive Expression (α=0.88) assesses verbally aggressive expression of anger (e.g., yelling or cursing at another driver); Personal Physical Aggressive Expression (α=0.81), the ways the person uses him/herself to express anger (e.g., trying to get out and tell off or have a physical fight with another driver); Use of the Vehicle to Express Anger (α=0.86), the ways the person uses his/her vehicle to express anger (e.g., flashing lights at or cutting another driver off in anger); and Adaptive/Constructive Expression (α=0.90), the ways the person copes positively with anger (e.g., focuses on safe driving or tries to relax). Aggressive forms can be summed into Total Aggressive Expression Index (α=0.90). Aggressive forms of expression correlated positively with each other ( rs=0.39–0.48), but were uncorrelated or correlated negatively with adaptive/constructive expression ( rs=−0.02 to −0.22). Aggressive forms of anger expression correlated positively with driving-related anger, aggression, and risky behavior; adaptive/constructive expression tended to correlate negatively with these variables. Differences in the strengths of correlations and regression analyses supported discriminant and incremental validity and suggested forms of anger expression contributed differentially to understanding driving-related behaviors. Theoretical and treatment implications were explored.
ISSN:0005-7967
1873-622X
DOI:10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00063-8