Personality characteristics, psychological symptoms and anxiety levels of drivers in charge of urban transportation in Istanbul

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine whether poor working conditions influenced drivers' psychological health, and to identify drivers' personality characteristics. The subjects were 208 bus drivers working in the European sector in Istanbul. Their personality characteristics, psychological symptoms and anxiety levels were investigated using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Symptom Check List (SCL90-R) and Spielberger's State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The average age of drivers was 38.65 +/- 4.69 years, and the mean working period was 7.44 +/- 4.00 years. According to the EPQ, 55 drivers had average standard extroversion scores, 25 had average neuroticism scores and none of the drivers had high scores for psychoticism and lying. The STAI 'state' score of the group was 41.94 +/- 8.93 and the 'trait' score was 47.00 +/- 7.02. The mean SCL90-R of the group was 1.09 +/- 0.57. All subtest scores of SCL90-R were higher for those who suffered from back pain, were dissatisfied with their jobs or undertook long-distance driving. Subtests on somatization, anxiety, anger/hostility, paranoid ideation and general symptom index for SCL90-R and STAI trait scores were higher when comparing employees who had worked for >10 years with those working less than or equal to10 years. We conclude that the bus drivers in this study show signs of poor physical health and psychological ill-health, which may be improved by modification of their work and working environment.