Influence of the Big Five on Driving Frequency During the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Our objective was to examine how the Big Five personality traits affected driving behavior during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected online via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Chi-Squared Tests with bootstrapping revealed a significant pandemic effect on driving frequency with a moderate effect size. However, insignificant results of the Big Five were found relative to the weekly driving frequency. Simple Correspondence Analysis was used to examine patterns between the Big Five and driving frequency graphically. Individuals high in Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism were more likely to drive less frequently and therefore comply with isolation guidelines. However, there were conflicting results in Neuroticism. Some of the High and Medium Low groups were grouped closely with lower driving frequencies. To explain this result, there may be a mediating or moderating factor that was not captured in this analysis, which requires more research to examine.