Relações entre funções executivas, traços de personalidade e o cometimento de infrações e acidentes de trânsito por condutores de automóveis

Abstract

Traffic is considered a challenge and a public health problem. Violence in this context is the result of a complex determined by cognitive, behavioral and socioenvironmental aspects of drivers. The objective of this research was to investigate relationships between executive functions - EF (work memory, attention, decision making, planning, inhibitory control), personality traits (aggressiveness, impulsivity, antisocial) and the commission of infractions and traffic accidents by drivers. It was a quantitative research, with a non-experimental design, carried out in Maceió/AL. The following were applied: anamnesis, WAIS-III digits subtest, Victoria stroop test, Iowa Gambling Task-IGT, Barrat-BIS-11 impulsivity scales, Levenson psychopathy scale and Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire. To homogenize the sample were used: subtest Beta III test codes, Beck anxiety inventory and Beck depression inventory. A total of 160 female (n= 94) and male (n= 66) drivers, aged 18-50 years (M= 33.45, SD= 9.13) were evaluated. For the analysis, Pearson's correlation-type descriptive and inferential statistics were used to measure the relationship between variables of interest and the General Linear Model-GLM multivariate to verify the effect of the groups by age group and sex, independent variables, and interactions on infractions and accidents, dependent variables. There were no relevant relationships between infractions and accidents with personality traits, as well as with EF. No relations were found between EF and personality traits, as well as between infractions and accidents. On the other hand, relevant results between personality traits and their factors were verified. For traffic accidents, a significant effect of sex was observed [F(1,152)= 15,369; p= 0.001; Eta Square (η²)= 0.092], with a lower mean of females than males (M= 0.436, SD= 0.63 x M= 1.044, SD= 1.2), but not in any other factors. For infractions, no significant effects were observed. Finally, it is considered that the present study contributed to understand personality aspects and the executive functioning in the context of traffic. But, it is believed that it isn’t yet possible to find relevant relationships to elucidate infractions and accidents regarding human factor. That makes relevant the expansion of studies in the area, in order to create a more robust literature, considering the gaps related to potential risk factors in traffic.