Copyright © 2017 Society of Trauma Nurses. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 280 WWW.JOURNALOFTRAUMANURSING.COM Volume 24 | Number 4 | July-August 2017 RESEARCH M otor vehicle accidents/crashes are a global prob- lem. In Iran, the term “accident” is used to describe vehicular crashes of all types. According to the report of the World Health Organization, motor vehicle accidents annually lead to 1.2 million deaths in the world and 50 million people are injured because of the accidents (Peden et al., 2004). Ninety per- cent of the deaths from these accidents occur in mid- dle- and low-income countries (Mock, Kobusingye, Anh, Afukaar, & Arreola-Risa, 2005). The main causes of death in Iranian youths are such vehicular accidents (Naghavi, 2005). According to the population census of Statistical Centre of Iran (2012), there were 94,875 families living in Kashan City, those who used motorcycle were estimated about 44,941 fami- lies, and approximately 47% of the families living in this city had used motorcycle. According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the highest rate of motor vehicle per fam- ily was seen in Yazd Province (Mirzaei, Mirzadeh, Far, & Mirzaei, 2016). The Haddon’s matrix, a tool that combines the epide- miological triangle (host or human factors, vehicle and equipment factors, and environmental factors) and levels of prevention, identifies the human factors affecting traf- fic/vehicular accidents as being youth, low socioeconom- ic status, a history of accidents, lack of a driving license, a history of driving offenses, high-risk behaviors, being the owner of the vehicle, low and high speeds while driv- ing, chaos, fatigue, driver’s experience, alcohol consump- tion and drug use, physical diseases, height, weight, and medications (Vriend, Gouttebarge, Finch, van Mechelen, & Verhagen, 2017). On further categorizing the factors, personality char- acteristics and psychological factors have emerged as the important factors (Gulian, Glendon, Matthews, Davies, & Debney, 1990). Several studies determined various fac- tors as predictors of mental health, including emotional intelligence (EI), quality of life, and personality charac- teristics (Bar-On, 2006; Latimer, Rench, & Brackett, 2007; Mikolajczak & Luminet, 2008; Stoeber & Stoeber, 2009). Emotional intelligence is a collection of continuous skills for a detailed understanding of emotions, evaluat- ing and expressing emotions to facilitate thinking, and adjusting them for emotional and intellectual develop- ment (Freudenthaler, Neubauer, Gabler, Scherl, & Rinder- mann, 2008). People who are more aware of their emo- tions have greater skills to manage emotional problems. They enjoy better mental health than people who have fewer skills (Freudenthaler et al., 2008; Gohm & Clore, 2002; Zullig, Valois, Huebner, & Drane, 2005). Over the past 15 years, EI has attracted considerable attention in scientific research via theoretical and empirical studies (Freudenthaler et al., 2008; Petrides & Furnham, 2003). The concept of EI includes a set of skills, competen- cies, and noncognitive skills, and leads to an increase in an individual’s ability in coping with environmental con- straints and pressure. Emotional intelligence is also re- lated to other skills and characteristics such as happiness, ABSTRACT There is an inherent risk of death and injury for motorcyclists. Some factors such as personality and psychological characteristics may be contributors of motor vehicle accidents/crashes. This study aimed to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and its related components and the occurrence of accidents/ crashes in motorcycle drivers. In this case–control study, 280 motorcycle drivers with and without a history of motorcycle- related accidents or crashes in Kashan, Iran, were selected for convenience sampling. The tool used was the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and included 90 items. Logistic regression revealed that components of emotional intelligence identified as happiness, optimism, flexibility, self-actualization, autonomy, and interpersonal relationships were different between motorcycle drivers with and without an accident/crash. Our findings emphasized the important role of developing and enhancing the skills of emotional intelligence as related to the prevention of accidents/crashes. Key Words Crashes, Emotional intelligence, Motorcycle drivers Author Affiliations: Trauma Research Center, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (Ms Asgarian), Nursing and Midwifery School (Mr Aghajani), Infectious Disease Research Center (Mr Aghajani), and Trauma Nursing Research Center (Ms Masoudi Alavi), Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Correspondence: Mohammad Aghajani, MSN, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Ghotb Ravandi Highway, Kashan 123456, Esfahan, Iran (aghajani_m@kaums.ac.ir; aghajani1362@ yahoo.com). Emotional Intelligence and the Occurrence of Accidents in Motorcycle Drivers in Kashan, Iran Fatemeh Sadat Asgarian, MSc ■ Mohammad Aghajani, MSN ■ Negin Masoudi Alavi, PhD DOI: 10.1097/JTN.0000000000000304