Mulling over anger: Indirect and conditional indirect effects of thought content and trait rumination on aggressive driving

- Trait rumination and thought content were related to aggressive driving behaviors.
- Driving angry thoughts and anger rumination were associated with trait driving anger.
- Indirect effects through driving angry thoughts and anger rumination were observed.
- Indirect effects were conditional to specific driving angry thoughts.

Previous research has found that the content of thoughts and rumination influences driving anger and aggressive driving; however, no research to date has observed how the specific thoughts and process of rumination may directly or indirectly influence aggressive driving behaviors. The present research explores the potential roles of thought content and rumination on aggressive driving to improve our understanding of factors that influence aggressiveness in driving situations. The current study recruited 262 Southeastern University students, who completed a number of questionnaires measuring anger rumination, thought content, driving anger, and aggressive driving behaviors tendencies. Results demonstrated that trait driving anger imposed partial indirect effects on aggressive driving behaviors through specific angry thoughts. In addition, this partial indirect effect was conditional to the degree of coping thoughts. These findings may help advance the understanding of the roles content of thoughts and rumination play in aggressive driving behaviors.