Driving-related Attitudes among Older Adults in Australia
Keywords: Older Driver, Beliefs, Attitudes, Driving
ACRS
Submission Date: November 15, 2018 Journal
Suggested Citation: Sukhawathanakul, P., Porter, M.M., Tuokko, H., Charlton, J.L., Koppel, S., Bedard, M., Naglie, G., Marshall, S., Rapoport, M.J., Vrkljan, B., Gélinas, I., Mazer, B. (2018). Driving-related Attitudes among Older Adults in Australia. Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, 29(4), 46-52.
Abstract
The Decisional Balance Scale (DBS) was developed to assess older adults’ attitudes related to driving and includes both intra- and inter-personal motivations for driving. The current study examines the DBS in a sample of older drivers from Australia (n = 257). Longitudinal evaluation of the DBS subscales revealed that changes in attitudes covary with changes in self-regulatory driving practices across 6 annual assessments. Specifically, negative attitudes related to inter-personal motivations for driving (con-other) were associated with participants’ scores on the Situational Driving Frequency (SDF) scale. Negative attitudes related to intra-personal motivations for driving (con-self) were associated with participants’ scores on the Situational Driving Avoidance (SDA) scale. These findings highlight the importance of considering attitudes in understanding older drivers’ decisions to regulate their driving practices.