PDF · ágúst 2009Exploring the lifestyle factors influencing young males driving style comparative study of Danish and Icelandic sample
Despite general improvements in traffic safety over the years, young drivers remain a high-risk group in traffic and pose a serious health and economical problem
globally. In the light of this, several studies have emerged, identifying and scrutinizing the risk factors that may contribute to this major public health issue. Males have been identified as more risk prone than females and age is a heavily contributing factor. Research regarding lifestyle and driving behaviour has identified different lifestyle profiles, which have been classified as either high-risk or low-risk profiles.
This study was a comparative study that aimed to identify lifestyle factors underlying three different driving styles for 18-19 years old Danish and Icelandic males. The study employed a detailed questionnaire with an array of leisure time and lifestyle questions that where presumably linked to driving behaviour. The three driving styles were determined by factor analyzing several questions regarding driving. The factors that emerged were given the names Thrill, Anger and Anxiety, all corresponding to particular driving behaviour. Significant difference emerged for various demographical questions, indicating that there is some difference in the traffic and transport culture between nationalities. Using the three driving styles Thrill, Anger and Anxiety as dependent variables in a linear regression, a model for each nationality and each driving style was created. The models clearly identify certain lifestyle attributes as risk factors for both groups resulting in the specific driving behaviour stated. Lifestyle attributes were similar for Thrill and Anger for both nationalities, except for drug abuse that identified these driving behaviours for the Danish sample. Lifestyle attributes for Anxiety varied the most, but the analysis did yield one variable that was the same for both samples.
Importantly, the study should be considered an explorative step toward identifying young drivers’ risk factors and suggestions for further research are presented.
