Investigating the effect of psychological factors and spiritual health on drivers' behavior: using the structural equation modeling approach

Nowadays, traffic accidents are one of the major causes of death worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to determine the modifiable risk factors in order to reduce traffic accidents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the psychological factors, the spiritual health, and the drivers' behavior of the employees of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

This cross-sectional study examined the data on 3245 participants in the Health Cohort Study of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The required information was collected using general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), Manchester driving behavior questionnaire (MDBQ), spiritual health questionnaire (SHEL), aggression questionnaire (AGQ), and Beck's anxiety and depression questionnaires. The data were analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling using SPSS 25 and Amos 24 software.

 The study used the information on 1386 people. Moreover, 754 of these people were men. All of the correction indices highlighted the good fit of the hypothesized model (CMIN/DF=3.3, GFI=0.96, AGFI=0.94, CFI=0.97, TLI=0.97, IFI=0.97, NFI=0.95, SRMR=0.03, RMSEA=0.04). According to the model, aggression (β=0.45, p<0.001), depression (β=0.05, p<0.001), anxiety (β=0.29, p<0.001), and physical and social dysfunction (β=0.29, p<0.001), significantly increased the drivers’ dangerous driving behavior .On the other hand, spiritual health had an inverse and significant relationship (p<0.001, β=-0.4) with risky driving behavior.

The results of this study showed that psychological factors and spiritual health affected the drivers’ behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to implement effective interventions regarding these factors to reduce traffic accidents.