AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY, ATTITUDES, AND COGNITIONS RELEVANT TO ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING TENDENCIES

Previous research has explored the domain of legal and educational pre vention in regard to the phenomena of accidents and injuries caused by drinking and driving. Most investigations of psychological factors at tempt to distinguish characteristics of drunk drivers relative to the general driving population or controls matched on driving risk variabl es. In contrast, the present research concentrated on the examination of the process by which empirically derived personality and general at titudinal constructs operate within a cognitive framework to influence the decision to drive. Four conceptual models were proposed that sugg ested the presence of direct, indirect, and moderated effects of perso nality and general attitudinal constructs on cognitions relevant to dr unk-driving tendencies. Support was observed for a model suggesting th e presence of indirect, direct, and moderating effects for the general attitudinal construct driving aggression, and support for an indirect effects model for the personality variable emotional control. The imp lications of these findings are discussed in the context of utilizing personality and general attitudinal constructs to improve short term c ognitive-based interventions.