Mindfulness predicts less texting while driving among young adults: Examining attention- and emotion-regulation motives as potential mediators.

Authors

Greg Feldman
Jeffrey M. Greeson, Rowan UniversityFollow
Megan Renna
Kendra Robbins-Monteith

Document Type

Article

Version Deposited

Accepted for publication (PostPrint)

Publication Date

11-1-2011

Publication Title

Personality and individual differences

Abstract

Many young adult drivers read and send text messages while driving despite clear safety risks. Understanding predictors of texting-while-driving may help to indentify relevant targets for interventions to reduce this dangerous behavior. The present study examined whether individual differences in mindfulness is associated with texting-while-driving in a sample of young-adult drivers. Using path analysis, we tested whether this relationship would be mediated by the degree to which individuals use text-messaging as a means of reducing unpleasant emotions (emotion-regulation motives) and the degree to which individuals limit texting in order to focus on present-moment experiences (attention-regulation motives). Individuals lower in mindfulness reported more frequent texting-while-driving and this relationship appeared to be mediated primarily by emotion-regulation motives. Results may help inform the development of mindfulness-based interventions to prevent texting-while-driving.

Comments

Author manuscript from PubMed Central.

Recommended Citation

Feldman, G., Greeson, J., Renna, M., & Robbins-Monteith, K. (2011). Mindfulness predicts less texting while driving among young adults: Examining attention- and emotion-regulation motives as potential mediators. Personality and individual differences, 51(7), 856-861.