Why are there sex differences in risky driving?: The relationship between sex and gender-role on aggressive driving, traffic offences, and accident involvement among young Turkish drivers

The aim of this study was to investigate how sex (male and female) and gender-role (masculinity and femininity) and their interaction were associated with risky driving behaviors, traffic offences, and accident involvement among young Turkish drivers. Three-hundred and fifty-four young drivers (221 males and 133 females) filled in a form including the short form of Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), questions about a driver's accident history, and background information. The effects were tested on outcome variables by using hierarchical regression analysis. It was found that sex (being male) predicted only the ordinary violations. While masculinity score predicted positively the number of offences, and aggressive and ordinary (highway code) violations, femininity score predicted negatively the number of accidents and offences, aggressive and ordinary violations, and errors. The effect of interaction between masculinity and femininity was only found on the number of accidents and aggressive violations among young drivers. There was no significant interaction effect between sex and gender roles on criterion variables. Aggr. Behav. 31:547-558, 2005. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.