title: The influence of age-related health difficulties and attitudes toward driving on driving self-regulation in the baby boomer and older adult generations.
abstract: Our study aimed to determine how age- and disease-related difficulties were associated with attitudes and beliefs about driving self-regulation in men and women in the baby boomer and older generations. Three hundred and ninety-nine men (n=204) and women (n=195) aged between 48 and 91 years participated in a cross-sectional study of Australian drivers. Demographic characteristics and measures of driving confidence, driving difficulty and driving self-regulation; perceptions of visual, physical and cognitive capacity; and attitudes and beliefs about driving were obtained. Driving self-regulation in men and women was explained by different mechanisms. For men, self-report of visual and cognitive difficulties and poor driving confidence predicted driving self-regulation. For women, negative attitudes toward driving mediated the associations found between health-related difficulties and driving self-regulation. Barriers to driving self-regulation were not associated with the driving self-regulatory practices of men or women. Regardless of generation, women reported poorer driving confidence, greater driving difficulty and more driving self-regulation than men. We concluded that age- and disease-related difficulties are related to increasing driving self-regulation in mature men and women. These results indicate that different pathways are needed in models of driving self-regulation for men and women regardless of generational cohort.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Australia. Electronic address: e.conlon@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: Elizabeth G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Conlon
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rahaley
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Australia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Driving attitudes; Driving self-regulation; Gender; Health; Older drivers