Personality profiles of traffic offenders: does it correlate to alcohol consumption?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify personality profiles in the sample of traffic offenders and to find if there are differences in alcohol consumption according to different personality profiles. 683 traffic offenders (611 males, 72 females) participated in the study. The age ranged from 18 to 79 years. A self-administered questionnaire was composed by AUDIT test, Big Five Inventory, Barratt impulsiveness scale (motor-impulsiveness subscale), Aggression scale and Lie subscale. The results show that there are low – risk and high – risk personality profiles of traffic offenders (for both males and females). Those, who have higher expression of impulsiveness, aggression and neuroticism (high risk personality profile), consume alcohol in a hazardous and harmful way. These traffic offenders tend to make more serious road traffic rules violations like driving under the influence of alcohol. Therefore, it could be stated that serious road traffic rules violations might be evaluated as the outcomes of high – risk personality and other problematic behavior such as harmful alcohol consumption