Association between psychological symptoms and illegal driving behaviors in a sample of Chinese private car drivers

BACKGROUND: Findings on the associations between psychological symptoms and driving behaviors in private car drivers are inadequate. METHOD: The study consisted of 3,115 private car drivers in Yulin, China. The measurements included socio-demographic data, traffic violations, accidents, and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). In addition, an ordered logistic regression model was employed to examine the association between each psychological symptom and risky driving behaviors. RESULTS: The overall prevalence rate of any self-reported psychological symptom was 10.24%, with 9.22% for males and 11.49% for females. Among them, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, additional items, hostility, and depression were the five most common psychological symptoms, with prevalence rates of 7.90, 6.29, 6.00, 5.91, and 5.62%, respectively. Any psychological symptom factor was associated with a higher risk of traffic violations and accidents. However, the intensity of the correlations varied, with obsessive-compulsive symptoms the strongest in general traffic violations and anxiety symptoms in traffic accidents. All psychological symptoms except phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation contributed to a higher risk of failing the driver's license test. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rate of psychological symptoms was high in private car drivers. This study calls for an urgent need to establish a pilot tertiary prevention strategy to reduce risky driving behaviors through psychological symptom screening and interventions among private car drivers.