The role of psychological resilience in driving anger expression: The mediating effect of cognitive emotion regulation

Abstract

Emotions that occur while driving, especially anger, can significantly impact driving-related safety. Due to the potential risks of aggressive driving behaviour, which include hazardous driving and traffic accidents, it is important to explore strategies to effectively manage anger, thereby enhancing driving-related safety. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among psychological resilience, cognitive emotional regulation, driving anger, and the expression of driving anger. A total of 350 drivers (aged 21–50 years) completed online questionnaires, including the Connor–Davidson Psychological Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Driving Anger Scale (DAS), and the Driver Anger Expression Inventory (DAX). The results indicated that a higher level of psychological resilience is associated with a greater tendency to employ positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and a greater tendency to exhibit more adaptive expressions of driving anger. In contrast, a lower level of psychological resilience is associated with negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies, resulting in elevated levels of driving anger and a higher frequency of nonadaptive expressions. Additionally, cognitive emotion regulation mediated the relationship between psychological resilience and driving anger. These findings suggest that drivers with high levels of psychological resilience and those who engage in effective cognitive emotion regulation strategies are more likely to remain calm in irritating driving situations, thereby enhancing overall driving-related safety.