DEVELOPMENT OF A DRIVING ANGER SCALE

A cluster analysis of responses from more than 1500 college students t o 53 potentially angering driving-related situations yielded a 33-item driving anger scale (alpha reliability = .90) with six reliable subsc ales involving hostile gestures, illegal driving, police presence, slo w driving, discourtesy, and traffic obstructions. Sub-scales all corre lated positively, suggesting a general dimension of driving anger as w ell as anger related to specific driving-related situations. Men were more angered by police presence and slow driving whereas women were mo re angered by illegal behavior and traffic obstructions, but differenc es compensated so there were no gender differences on total score. A 1 4-item short form (alpha reliability = .80) was developed from scores more highly correlated (r = .95) with scores on the long form. Driving anger may have potential value for research on accident prevention an d health psychology.