Associations between personality and driving behavior are mediated by mind-wandering tendency: A cross-national comparison of Australian and Italian drivers

Objective: This study examined the associations between personality traits (i.e., neumticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and aberrant driving behaviors in a sample of Australian and Italian drivers by investigating the mediation effect of mind-wandering (MW) tendency.Background: Although unsafe driving behaviors are influenced by both a driver's MW tendency and personality traits, the potential interaction between these variables and their association with aberrant driving behaviors has not been previously investigated.Method: Nine-hundred and four active drivers (n = 452 Australians, n = 452 Italians) completed an online survey related to their self-reported personality traits, driving behaviors, and MW tendency.Results: A multi-group path analysis showed that MW tendency significantly mediated the effects of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness on aberrant driving behavior with invariances across nationality groups.Conclusion: These results suggest that the association between personality traits and aberrant driving behaviors is partially explained by a driver's MW tendency while driving. Further research is needed to understand these relationships using objective measures of MW while driving (e.g., the probe-caught method). The findings of this study suggest that the assessment of personality traits may have important implications for inattentive and distracted driving and fitness-to-drive evaluation purposes.