Relationship between anxiety sensitivity and fear of driving

Abstract

Driving a vehicle is a complex task that carries a certain risk; it has ceased to be a sporadic activity to become daily, causing unfavorable experiences in many drivers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the explanatory and predictive value of sensitivity to anxiety and its factors, as well as other dimensions of anxiety, such as general anxiety and phobic anxiety in the development of fear of driving and the phobia derived from such fear: Amaxophobia. For this, a correlational study was carried out by means of the online application of several questionnaires to a sample composed of 300 drivers. The results showed that both anxiety sensitivity and general and phobic anxiety traits are involved in the development of amaxophobia, however, none of them reach a determinant value separately, obtaining moderate values both explanatory and predictive.