Self-Integrity and Aberrant Driving Behavior: The Chain Mediating Effect of Attention Control and Driving Skills

Abstract

Self-integrity refers to an individual's perception of self-consistency, moral wholeness, and self-worth. Although research in the area of driving have examined the correlation between personality and driving behavior, few studies have investigated personality component—self-integrity and its underlying mechanism. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine the influence of self-integrity on aberrant driving behaviors (aggressive violations, ordinary violations, lapses and errors), with a particular focus on the mediating roles of attention control and driving skills. A total of 381 drivers participated in an online survey to evaluate their self-integrity, attention control, self-reported driving skills and aberrant driving behaviors. After controlling for demographic variables, the results indicated that self-integrity and driving skills had a negative predictive effect on aberrant driving behaviors, whereas attention control was positively correlated with aberrant driving behaviors. Both attention control and driving skills mediated the relationship between self-integrity and aberrant driving behaviors, accounting for 20.0% and 15.6% of the total effect, respectively. The chain-mediating effect of attention control and driving skills was also significant, contributing 2.2% to the total effect on aberrant driving behaviors. The study highlights the importance of self-integrity in enhancing road safety and offers insights for future psychological interventions aimed at reducing aberrant driving behaviors.

Keywords: self-integrity, attention control, driving skills, aberrant driving behavior, chain mediating effect