Examination of personality traits and social problem-solving skills of individuals whose driving licenses have been confiscated due to drunk driving

ABSTRACT

Objective: Drunk driving is one of the major behavioral issues connected with problematic alcohol consumption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between personality traits and social problem-solving skills of individuals who drive while intoxicated.

Method: One hundred forty-four individuals apprehended twice while driving drunk and sent to a driver behavior training program (9 females and 135 males) participated in our study. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised–Abbreviated (EPQ-RA) composed of 4 subscales (Extroversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism, and Lying) and the Social Problem Solving Inventory (SPSI) composed of 7 subscales (Cognitive, Emotion, Behavior, Problem Definition and Formulation, Creating Solution Options, Solution Implementation and Verification, and Decision Making) were used to evaluate the participants.

Results: A positive relationship was found between the Extroversion subscale of the EPQ-RA and the Cognition subscale (P <.01), Emotion subscale (P <.01), Behavior subscale (P <.01), Generation of Alternatives subscale (P <.01), Decision Making subscale (P <.05), and Solution Implementation and Verification subscale (P <.01). For individuals who repeated intoxicated driving, all subscales of the EPQ-RA (Extroversion, Lying, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism subscales) explained 12% of the scores of the Cognition subscale and 16.2% (P <.001) of the Emotion subscale of the SPSI. There was no significant relationship between the first and second incident alcohol blood levels (P >.05).

Conclusion: Drinking and driving behaviors appear to be negative or maladaptive behaviors closely related to personality traits and may represent an effort to avoid negative emotions. Evaluation of negative emotions may have an important place in training programs intended to change drunk driving behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• Driver
• alcohol
• personality
• problem solving
• neuroticism
• drunk driving

Acknowledgments

The authors thank philologist Mrs. Nazli Demirci and Mrs. Selin Ozcan for their contribution to the study. The authors thank everyone who provided assistance for the study, including secretaries and psychiatry assistants.