Driving skills and self-regulation in older adults: the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis

The age-related adaptive adjustments of driving behaviors, often referred to as self-regulation, are sometimes seen as a strategy to compensate for inferior driving skills. However, certain contradictions in the literature are observed that make such inferences less definitive. Data integration could aid in clarifying the link of interest. Against this background, we aimed at summarizing the existing evidence and determining the relationship between driving skills and self-regulation of driving in the sample of older people. The current review was performed under the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA; Moher et al. 2009). Seven databases were used to search for papers: ISI Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, APA PsycArticles, Academic Search Ultimate, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. Studies published from the beginning of available records up to May 2025 were included in the review. In the search process, the titles, abstracts and full-texts were analyzed. Six papers were retained for the current review. The number of participants in the studies ranged between 61 and 888. A systematic review revealed mixed findings regarding the significance and direction of the relationship between driving skills and self-regulation of driving in older people. The results of the meta-analytic examination showed this relationship to be insignificant. The findings obtained imply that the adjustment of driving behaviors may depend on some other factors rather than driving skills. On the other hand, older drivers may compensate for declining abilities by avoiding very specific driving situations. This has not always been analyzed in sufficient detail in past research and was therefore not thoroughly explored in this review. Hence, future studies should adopt a more nuanced approach to address the existing research gaps.