The Role of Aggression and Sleep Quality on Substance Abuse in Risky Drivers

Background: Substance-related disorders has become an important challenge in family, social, and individual health. Given the risks caused by ignoring substance related disorders, it is necessary to analyze factors effective on reckless driving. Objectives: The aim of this study was to predict substance-related disorders based on aggression and sleep quality in reckless drivers in Kermanshah city. Patients and Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional research. Overall, 644 reckless drivers were selected by simple random method among drivers referred to the Iranian traffic police. Data collection was performed by means of the Aggression questionnaire (compiled by Zahedifar et al.) and Petersburg Sleep Quality questionnaire, and the data was analyzed by SPSS (version 22) and discriminant analysis test. Results: The standardized discriminant function coefficients showed that time of sleep, aggression, and sleep latency had the highest effect on the discriminant function; variables including obstinacy, daily dysfunction, sleep disturbance, sleep quality, anger and the amount of taken sleep medication played the most negligible role in discriminant function and its success. Furthermore, the discriminant analysis method showed that the linear combination of the above-mentioned variables could explain approximately 86.4% of the variance in both groups. Conclusions: As aggression and sleep quality play a highly critical role in inclination towards substance-related disorders, the two factors should be considered in prevention, treatment, and recovery programs of substance-related disorders.