Abstract
•Anxiety during operation of a motor vehicle may impact driving performance.•Excessive safety, performance deficits, and aggressive driving domains were assessed.•Persons with posttraumatic stress disorder evidence reliable scores in each domain.•Anxious travel behavior seems more severe in clinical relative to normative samples.•Anxious driving behavior shows promise as an index of functional impairment.
Data suggest anxious drivers may engage in problematic behaviors that place themselves and others at increased risk of negative traffic events. Three domains of problematic behavior – exaggerated safety/caution, performance deficits, and hostile/aggressive behaviors – previously were identified during development of the Driving Behavior Survey (DBS), a novel measure of anxiety-related behavior. Extending this research, the current study examined the psychometric properties of DBS scores among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subsequent to motor vehicle trauma (N=40). Internal consistencies and 12-week test–retest reliabilities for DBS scales ranged from good to excellent. Comparison of scores to normative student data indicated dose–response relationships for safety/caution and performance deficit subscales, with increased frequency of anxious behavior occurring within the PTSD sample. Associations with standard clinical measures provide additional evidence for anxiety-related driving behavior as a unique marker of functional impairment, distinct from both avoidance and disorder-specific symptoms.