Association of Psychiatric Disorders with Pedestrian Safety Behaviors: Baseline Findings from Persian Traffic Cohort

TL;DR

This study found that pedestrians with depressive disorders show more aggressive and fewer positive traffic behaviors compared to those without.

Contribution

The study is the first to explore the association between psychiatric disorders and pedestrian traffic behaviors in the Persian population.

Findings

Depressive disorder was linked to significantly lower positive traffic behaviors and higher aggressive behaviors in pedestrians.

Generalized anxiety disorder showed no significant association with pedestrian traffic behavior dimensions.

The study highlights the need for more comprehensive research on mental health and pedestrian safety.

Abstract

Mental health problems can disrupt traffic behaviors through reduced cognitive function, poor decision-making, increased behavioral errors, and concentration problems. This study aimed to examine the role of psychiatric disorders in pedestrians ‘ traffic behavior.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 275 pedestrians of the Persian Traffic Cohort (PTC) in 2022. The Pedestrian Traffic Behavior Questionnaire, Kessler’s Psychological Distress Scale, and the Structured Assessment of Personality Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) screening questionnaires for people over 14 years were completed. Then, those who had a score above 3 on the SAPAS or a score above 20 on Kessler’s scale took part in a psychiatric interview by a psychiatrist or psychiatric resident. The data were analyzed in SPSS v. 26 via independent samples t-test, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression.

The score of positive behaviors was significantly higher in pedestrians without depressive disorder than in those with depressive disorder (95% CI: 42.49–51.17, P value<0.001). The score of aggressive behaviors was significantly higher in pedestrians with depressive disorder than in those without (95% CI: 24.98–28.87, P value=0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups of pedestrians with and without generalized anxiety disorder in the scores of traffic behavior dimensions (P value>0.05).

There was a significant relationship between pedestrians with depressive disorder and the score of positive and aggressive traffic behaviors. Meanwhile, the pedestrians’ anxiety disorder was not significantly related to any of their behavioral dimensions. More comprehensive studies should be conducted, taking into account more mental disorders and larger samples, to more precisely explain the impact of psychiatric disorders on pedestrians’ traffic behavior.

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