Ferring Dieter, Tournier Isabelle, Mancini Denis
Research Unit INSIDE, University of Luxembourg, Campus Walferdange, 7201 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Association Luxembourg Alzheimer, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Eur J Ageing. 2015 May 24;12(3):229-238. doi: 10.1007/s10433-015-0337-0. eCollection 2015 Sep.
The present study investigates the attitudes of older drivers and road safety measures with a particular focus on self-serving evaluations. Driving capacity is considered here as an indicator of awareness of age-related changes that may lead to a higher risk of self-stereotyping, motivating self-serving evaluations with advancing age. In order to test this notion, we used the perceived distance between one's chronological age and the age assigned to the social categories of "older driver" and "old person" as an indicator of age-group dissociation or identification, respectively. Self-serving evaluations were expected depending on the distance between chronological and subjective age estimates. In addition to this, we tested gender and age effects on the specific evaluations. A sample of 350 participants aged 19-88 completed an online questionnaire on negative and positive stereotypes about older drivers and road safety measures. Results indicated in general a more positive than negative view of older drivers; approval with measures to increase road safety by regulating older drivers was comparatively low. Female participants tended to agree more with negative stereotypes and regulative measures than male participants. Regression analyses revealed as well that increasing chronological age was associated with less agreement with negative stereotypes and measures for road safety. Differences between chronological age and subjective age estimates of when a person is old or an old driver were differentially related with the criteria. The closer the chronological age and subjective age estimates were the lower was the agreement with negative stereotypes and measures to regulate road safety. Findings underline in general that road safety enhancing efforts should avoid highlighting chronological age as the sole driving risk factor to circumvent negative stereotyping with ageing and unjustified driving cessation.
本研究调查了老年驾驶员的态度和道路安全措施，特别关注自利性评价。这里将驾驶能力视为对与年龄相关变化的认知指标，这些变化可能导致更高的自我刻板印象风险，从而随着年龄增长激发自利性评价。为了验证这一观点，我们分别使用实际年龄与“老年驾驶员”和“老年人”社会类别所对应的年龄之间的感知距离，作为年龄组解离或认同的指标。根据实际年龄和主观年龄估计之间的距离，预期会出现自利性评价。除此之外，我们还测试了性别和年龄对具体评价的影响。350名年龄在19至88岁之间的参与者完成了一份关于老年驾驶员和道路安全措施的负面和正面刻板印象的在线问卷。结果总体表明，对老年驾驶员的看法更积极而非消极；通过规范老年驾驶员来提高道路安全的措施的认可度相对较低。女性参与者比男性参与者更倾向于认同负面刻板印象和监管措施。回归分析还显示，实际年龄的增加与对负面刻板印象和道路安全措施的认同度降低相关。实际年龄与主观年龄估计在一个人何时变老或成为老年驾驶员方面的差异，与这些标准存在不同的关联。实际年龄和主观年龄估计越接近，对负面刻板印象和规范道路安全措施的认同度就越低。研究结果总体强调，道路安全提升努力应避免将实际年龄作为唯一的驾驶风险因素加以突出，以避免因年龄增长产生负面刻板印象和不合理的驾驶停止。
