The Association between Psychological Resilience and Driving Behavior among Older Drivers in Australia

• Published in: Journal of applied gerontology Vol. 42; no. 8; pp. 1749 - 1759
• Main Authors: St Louis, Renée M., Koppel, Sjaan, Molnar, Lisa J., Di Stefano, Marilyn, Darzins, Peteris, Bédard, Michel, Mullen, Nadia, Myers, Anita, Marshall, Shawn, Charlton, Judith L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2023; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Automobiles; Health behavior; Resilience; aging drivers; driving; psychosocial; mobility; resilience; transportation
• ISSN: 0733-4648; 1552-4523
• DOI: 10.1177/07334648231156320

This study compared a sample of Australian drivers aged 77 years and older to participants from an older driver longitudinal cohort study (Ozcandrive) and examined the relationship between resilience and self-reported driving measures within these samples. Using a survey with a subset of questions from Ozcandrive, data were collected from 237 older drivers throughout Australia. The two samples were analyzed for differences in demographics, health, resilience, and self-reported driving behavior. A series of multiple regression models were fit for each driving outcome measure for both samples. The two samples had both similarities and differences, with the largest difference observed for resilience. Strong and consistent associations were found between resilience and driving comfort, abilities, and frequency for the Australian sample. Across samples, resilience remained a significant variable in seven of 10 regression models, more than any other independent variable.