title: Thrill and adventure seeking as a modifier of the relationship of perceived risk with risky driving among young drivers.
abstract: Risky driving contributes to road trauma, a leading cause of mortality among young people. Health-relevant behaviour models suggest a negative relationship between risky driving and perceived risk of its outcomes. However, high sensation seekers may value the "thrill" of the risk, and positive associations between sensation seeking and risky driving have been observed. This is the first study to examine whether aspects of sensation seeking modify the relationship between perceived risk and risky driving. Young drivers in metropolitan Sydney and rural New South Wales [NSW] (n=797) completed a survey relating to one of the four risky driving behaviours (speeding, drink-driving, driving while fatigued, and failing to wear a seatbelt). Results suggest that the Thrill and Adventure Seeking subscale of Zuckerman's (1994) Sensation Seeking Scale moderate the relationship of perceived risk with risky driving - indicating a negative relationship for low-scores, but not high-scorers, on the TAS subscale. Thus, road safety campaigns that emphasize the riskiness of a particular behaviour may be of limited benefit to thrill and adventure seekers.
authors.affiliation: NSW Injury Risk Management Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 2052, Australia. Electronic address: j.hatfield@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hatfield
authors.forename: Ralston
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: R F Soames
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Job
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Risk perception; Risky driving; Sensation seeking; Young drivers