Self-compassion and driving anger expression among young drivers: the mediating role of anger rumination

Driving anger expression is a detrimental factor for traffic safety, suggesting that there is a need to investigate protective factors against anger expression and their underlying mechanisms, especially for young drivers. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of anger rumination on the relationship between self-compassion and driving anger expression. The final sample included 191 drivers ranging from 18 to 30 years in age who drove the least 1000 km in the previous year. These participants completed an online questionnaire package measuring self-compassion, driving anger expression and anger rumination in addition to some demographic items. As predicted, self-compassion was negatively related to total aggressive expression but positively related to constructive/adaptive anger expression. Self-compassion was also indirectly related to both aggressive and constructive/adaptive driving anger expression via total anger rumination and some anger rumination dimensions. The findings were discussed in relation to the previous literature.