Yanru Zhou, Xuesong Wang, Andrew Morris, Yujun Jiao, Jianguo Gong, Jianan Zhu, Hui Zhao, Huixin Zhang
Abstract: Coach drivers are vulnerable to psychological distress due to long work hours, job stress, and organizational constraints. The safety climate, which includes drivers' perceptions of organizational safety practices, is associated with drivers' anxiety and depression. However, the relationships among safety climate, physical health, and psychological health remain underexplored among coach drivers in China. This study examines how safety climate is associated with central symptoms of anxiety and depression and examines the associations of safety climate and physical health (insomnia, medical history and medication usage) with psychological outcomes. The study included 3417 drivers from multiple transport companies in Guangdong Province, China. A three-step analytical approach was applied, including latent profile analysis to identify safety climate classes and predictors, network analysis to detect central symptoms, and a directed acyclic graph model to examine conditional dependencies. Results showed that: (a) safety climate varied by age, gender, driving route scope, and years of employment, with fleet-level management playing a key role; (b) “irritability” and “self-reported suicidal thoughts” were bridge symptoms, while “restlessness” and “uncontrollable worry” were potential intervention targets; (c) a data-consistent pattern of conditional dependencies connected safety climate, medical history, insomnia symptoms, and central psychological symptoms; and (d) “trouble sleeping,” “trouble relaxing,” and “restlessness” were central to the symptoms associated with self-reported suicidal thoughts. These findings highlight the importance of organizational factors in relation to the psychological health of coach drivers and provide evidence to inform the development of targeted interventions aimed at improving safety climate and reducing psychological risks.
引用：Yanru Zhou, Xuesong Wang, Andrew Morris, Yujun Jiao, Jianguo Gong, Jianan Zhu, Hui Zhao, Huixin Zhang. The role of safety climate perceptions in the central symptoms of anxiety and depression among road coach drivers based on network analysis. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 2026, 121: 103709.