The Relationship Between Safe Driving Climate Among Friends And Risky Driving Behavior

The quality of friendship among young drivers,the effect of communication and the presence of peers in the car all influence their driving behavior.But previous research has not examined how a friend’s safe driving climate affects young drivers’ driving behavior.In addition,young drivers’ risky driving behavior is often closely related to their locus of control(internal locus of control,external locus of control).However,it is not clear whether the relationship between young drivers’ safe driving atmosphere among friends and their risky driving behavior is influenced by locus of control.Based on this,this paper carries out the following two studies to solve the above-mentioned problems.This Study contains two main topics:Study 1 revised the safe driving climate among friends scale.632 drivers were randomly selected as a sample in the study.The data collected from sample 1 is used for exploratory factor test analysis of the scale,and the data collected from sample 2 is used for confirmatory factor test analysis of the scale.In this study,the revised Chinese version of the safe driving climate among friends scale has an internal consistency reliability of 0.84 and a split half reliability of 0.80.The split half reliability of each dimension is between 0.74 and 0.89.Study 2 explored the influence of safe driving climate among friends on risky driving behavior,and tested whether locus of control played an mediating role in the relationship.The friendship pressure and social cost of young drivers were positively correlated with both risky driving behavior and locus of control.Communication and shared commitment to safe driving were negatively correlated with each dimension of risky driving behavior.Communication and locus of control were negatively correlated.Shared commitment to safe driving was negatively correlated with internal locus of control,positively correlated with external locus of Control.Based on the above researches,this paper draws the following conclusions:(1)Both reliability and validity of the revised safe driving climate among friends scale are good.And the scale is a reliable and effective tool to measure the safe driving climate among young drivers in China.(2)The more pressure young drivers feel from their friends in a safe driving atmosphere,the more social costs they put into driving,and the more likely they are to engage in risky driving behavior.The higher the score of shared commitment to safe driving they got,the lower likelihood of their risky driving behaviors.(3)The locus of control played a part of mediating effect on the relationship between safe driving climate among young drivers and risky driving behavior.The safe driving climate among young drivers not only directly affects young drivers’ risky driving behavior,but also is influenced by young drivers’ locus of control.