title: Dangerous driving in a Chinese sample: associations with morningness-eveningness preference and personality.
abstract: Individual differences in morningness-eveningness preference may influence susceptibility and response to sleepiness. These differences could influence driving performance, but the influence of morningness-eveningness preference on driving behavior and accident risk has not been comprehensively studied. As morningness-eveningness preference is associated with personality characteristics, we also investigated how the interaction between morningness-eveningness preference and personality may be related to dangerous driving behaviors. Two hundred and ninety five drivers completed the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, the Dula Dangerous Driving Index, and personality scales for agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism, and reported demographic information (gender, age, level of education, driving years and annual average driving mileage) and self-reported traffic violations (accidents, penalty points and fines). The results showed that more Risky Driving, Aggressive Driving, Negative Cognitive/Emotional Driving and Drunk Driving, as measured by the Dula Dangerous Driving Index, were all significantly correlated with more eveningness, corresponding to lower scores on the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Moreover, eveningness was correlated with self-reported traffic accidents, penalty points and fines. Furthermore, a moderation effect was found: eveningness was more strongly associated with risky driving and negative emotional driving in those who scored high for trait agreeableness.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Weina
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuexin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carciofo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wenguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003243:Consciousness; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010551:Personality; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult