Psychometric properties of the Driving Cognitions Questionnaire, Driving Situations Questionnaire, and Driving Behavior Survey

Abstract

Driving anxiety is a common experience that can have a significant impact on everyday functioning, especially avoidance of driving and travelling in a car. The heterogeneity of driving anxiety means that treatment often needs to address multiple areas of anxiety, cognition, and behaviour, and psychometric measures are an important part of individualised treatment and outcome measurement. There are several measures of driving anxiety, but their psychometric properties in non-clinical samples have not been adequately researched. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of three measures of driving anxiety, the Driving Cognitions Questionnaire (DCQ), Driving Situations Questionnaire (DSQ), and Driving Behavior Survey (DBS). In total, 420 participants from the New Zealand electoral roll completed a survey containing the three measures of driving anxiety, a measure of aberrant driving behaviour (the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire) and demographic and descriptive variables. The three driving anxiety scales demonstrated strong concurrent validity and the DSQ had strong discriminant validity. However, the discriminant validity findings for the DCQ and DBS were mixed. Further research is needed to evidence the psychometric properties of these measures of driving anxiety, so they can be of maximum benefit in designing tailored psychological treatment approaches.