Abstract
Five forms of driving-related angry cognitions were identified—Judgmental/Disbelieving Thinking (α = .94), Pejorative Labeling/Verbally Aggressive Thinking (α = .92), Revenge/Retaliatory Thinking (α = .93), Physically Aggressive Thinking (α = .93), and Coping Self-instruction (α = .83). Pejorative labeling/verbally aggressive, physically aggressive, and revengeful/retaliatory thinking correlated positively with each other and with driving anger, aggressive driving anger expression, aggression, and risky driving behavior. Coping self-instruction tended to correlate negatively with these variables. Judgmental/disbelieving thinking correlated positively with other forms of angry thinking, but was only somewhat correlated with other variables. Driving-related angry thoughts, except coping self-instruction, correlated positively with general hostile automatic thoughts. Differences in strengths of correlations with specific variables, and contributions to regression analyses supported the discriminant and incremental validity of driving-related angry thoughts. Implications for cognitive processes in anger and interventions were discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Automobile Association. (1997). Aggressive driving: Three studies. Washington, DC: American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Arnett, J. J., Offer, D., & Fine, M. A. (1997). Reckless driving in adolescence: “State” and “trait” factors. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 29, 57-63.
Averill, J. R. (1982). Anger and aggression: An essay on emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Bruning, J. L., & Kintz, B. L. (1997). Computational handbook of statistics(4th ed.). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, and Company.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Dahlen, E. R., Deffenbacher, J. L., & Lynch, R. S. (1998, April). Hostile automatic thoughts: A validity study. Paper presented at the Western Psychological Association-Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Joint Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Deffenbacher, J. L. (2000). The Driving Anger Scale (DAS). In J. Maltby, C. A. Lewis, & A. Hill (Eds.), Commissioned reviews of 250 psychological tests(pp. 287-292). Lampeter, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Deffenbacher, D. M., Lynch, R. S., & Richards, T. L. (2003). Anger, aggression, and risky behavior: A comparison of high and low anger drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 701-718.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Filetti, L. B., Lynch, R. S., Dahlen, E. R., & Oetting, E. R. (2002). Cognitive—behavioral treatment of high anger drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 895-910.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Huff, M. E., Lynch, R. S., Oetting, E. R., & Salvatore, N. F. (2000). Characteristics and treatment of high anger drivers. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 5-17.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Lynch, R. S., Deffenbacher, D. M., & Oetting, E. R. (2001). Further evidence of reliability and validity for the Driving Anger Expression Inventory. Psychological Reports, 89, 535-540.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Lynch, R. S., Filetti, L. B., Dahlen, E. R., & Oetting, E. R. (2003). Anger, aggression, risky behavior, and crash-related outcomes in three groups of drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 333-349.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Lynch, R. S., Oetting, E. R., & Swaim, R. C. (2002). The Driving Anger Expression Inventory: A measure of how people express their anger on the road. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 717-737.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Lynch, R. S., Oetting, E. R., & Yingling, D. A. (2001). Driving anger: Correlates and a test of state-trait theory. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1321-1331.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Oetting, E. R., & Lynch, R. S. (1994). Development of a driving anger scale. Psychological Reports, 74, 83-91.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Oetting, E. R., Lynch, R. S., & Morris, C. D. (1996). The expression of anger and its consequences. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 575-590.
Deffenbacher, J. L., Oetting, E. R., Thwaites, G. A., Lynch, R. S., Baker, D. A., Stark, P. S., et al. (1996). State-trait anger theory and the utility of the Trait Anger Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 131-148.
Galovoski, T., Blanchard, E. B., & Veazey, C. (2002). Intermittent explosive disorder and other psychiatric co-morbidity among court-referred and self-referred aggressive drivers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 641-651.
Hemenway, D., & Solnick, S. (1993). Fuzzy dice, dream cars and indecent gestures: Correlates of driving behaviour? Accident Analysis and Prevention, 25, 161-170.
Jacobs, G. A., Latham, L. E., & Brown, M. S. (1988). Test-retest reliability of the State-Trait Personality Inventory and the Anger Expression Scale. Anxiety Research, 1, 363-365.
Lajunen, T., & Parker, D. (2001). Are aggressive people aggressive drivers? A study of the relationship between self-reported general aggressiveness, driver anger and aggressive driving. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 33, 243-255.
Lajunen, T., Parker, D., & Stradling, S. G. (1998). Dimensions of driver anger, aggressive and highway code violations and their mediation by safety orientation in UK drivers. Transportation Research, Part F 1, 107-121.
Morris, C. D., Deffenbacher, J. L., Lynch, R. S., & Oetting, E. R. (1996, August). Anger expression and its consequences. Paper presented at the 104th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Murray, S. R. (1999). FACE: Fear of loss of face and the five hazardous attitudes. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 9, 403-411.
Snyder, C. R., Crowson, J. J., Houston, B. K., Kurylo, M., & Poirier, J. (1997). Assessing hostile automatic thoughts: Development and validation of the HAT Scale. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 477-492.
Spielberger, C. D. (1988). State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (1st ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources
Spielberger, C. D. (1999). State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (2nd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. & Lushene, R. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Self-Evaluation Questionnaire). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Underwood, G., Chapman, P., Wright, S., & Crundall, D. (1999). Anger while driving. Transportation Research, Part F 2, 55-68.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Deffenbacher, J.L., Petrilli, R.T., Lynch, R.S. et al. The Driver's Angry Thoughts Questionnaire: A Measure of Angry Cognitions When Driving. Cognitive Therapy and Research 27, 383–402 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025403712897
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025403712897