Abstract
112 college students participated in a study of simulated driving. The aim of the study was to investigate how coping related to both subjective stress responses and objective indices of risk-taking behavior. Dispositional coping (i.e., typical coping style) predicted task-induced stress responses, including increased distress and loss of task engagement. Consistent with the transactional model of driver stress, the effect of dispositional coping was mediated by the situational strategies adopted in response to the specific situation. Task-focused coping appeared to be more adaptive than emotion-focused coping. Drivers were afforded opportunities to pass other traffic in risky circumstances. Dispositional coping factors, especially a confrontive coping dimension, predicted risk-taking behaviors, such as frequent passing. These effects were not mediated by situational coping, suggesting that emotions during driving may shape habitual behavioral styles that operate irrespective of current mood and coping strategy. Implications of the findings for countermeasures to driver stress are discussed.
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