Motor Vehicle Driving in High Incidence Psychiatric Disability: Evaluating Risk and Cognitive Predictors of Adverse Driving Outcomes in ADHD and Depression

This dissertation presents a line of research that explores the association between high-incidence psychiatric disorders, specifically Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression, and adverse driving outcomes. In addition to examining the magnitude of risk posed by high incidence psychiatric disorders, through evaluation of self-reported as well as criterion-based, objective markers of driving behavior (e.g., number of violations, collisions, at-fault collisions, and collision severity), the role of visual inattention and disinhibition as potential mechanisms of risk is explored. This three paper manuscript style dissertation presents three original empirical manuscripts and a linking document that describes the conceptual and theoretical linkages among the manuscripts. I am the lead author on all of the three manuscripts presented in the dissertation. The first manuscript entitled “Motor Vehicle Driving in High Incidence Psychiatric Disability: A Comparison of Drivers with ADHD, Depression, and No Known Psychopathology” (Aduen, Kofler, Cox, Sarver, & Lunsford, 2015), has been published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The second manuscript, “Prospective Crash Risk as a Function of ADHD Symptoms and Clinical Status” (Aduen, Kofler, Sarver, Cox, Wells, & Soto), has been submitted to The Lancet Public Health and is currently under review. The third manuscript, “The Role of Visual Attention in Predicting Crash Risk in Drivers with ADHD” (Aduen, Kofler, Bradshaw, Sarver, & Cox), will be submitted to the appropriate journal following completion.