Keep calm, pay attention, and carry on: Anxiety and consciousness mediate the effect of, mindfulness on driving performance in young drivers

• Published in: Transportation research. Part F, Traffic psychology and behaviour Vol. 83; pp. 22 - 32
• Main Authors: Valero-Mora, Pedro M., Martí-Belda-Bertolín, Ana, Sánchez-García, Mar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Anxiety; Automobile drivers; Automobile driving; Crashes; Driving performance; Driving simulator; Mediation; Mindfulness; Personality; Personality traits; Traffic accidents; Traffic accidents & safety; Driving simulator; Mindfulness; Driving performance; Mediation
• ISSN: 1369-8478; 1873-5517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2021.09.006

•The effects of mindfulness on drivers’ lateral control of the vehicle was investigated by a driving simulator study.•Driver’s lateral control of the vehicle was positively related to their mindfulness after controlling by the speed of driving.•The relation between mindfulness and lateral control was mediated by neuroticism, consciousness, and state anxiety.•The relations found are not very strong. Road traffic crashes are currently one of the main causes of deaths in the world and many efforts have been made to develop effective interventions to reduce them. Mindfulness has risen as a method for improving mental and physical well-being and has been hypothesized as potentially beneficial for driving performance. This has led to some commercial ventures based on such hypothesis, despite that the empirical evidence backing up them is still limited. Besides, at the moment there is not yet a clear account of the specific mechanism underlying this proposals. So, it seems plausible that the relationship between mindfulness and driving performance is indirect, and that personality traits such as conscientiousness and neuroticism may play a mediation role between mindfulness and driving performance. A sample of 98 drivers between the ages of 19 and 29 completed questionnaires assessing mindfulness, anxiety trait and anxiety state, and the big five personality traits. Driving performance was assessed in a driving simulator. A mediation model was fitted with conscientiousness and neuroticism set as mediators of the effects of the relationship between the subject’s mindfulness levels and the driving performance.