Why do they do it? A qualitative study of adolescent drinking and driving.

Full Abstract

Despite a decline in the prevalence of fatal traffic crashes involving adolescent drinking drivers in recent years, underage drinking and driving (DD) and riding with drinking drivers (RWDD) remain serious problems. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study investigating the influence of beliefs and expectancies on adolescents' decisions to participate in DD or RWDD. Forty-four adolescents, who in a previous survey admitted to having been involved in either DD or RWDD, were interviewed in 2000 about their experiences concerning either driving after drinking or getting into a car with a driver who had been drinking. Findings indicate that adolescent DD and RWDD are complex behaviors. Expectancies and control beliefs do not seem to influence the decision, whereas normative beliefs to some extent do. However, findings also indicate that increased enforcement of the laws may be helpful in preventing young people from getting involved in drinking and driving.

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Author information

Author/s: Nygaard, Peter (P); Waiters, Elizabeth D (ED); Grube, Joel W (JW); Keefe, Deborah (D);

Affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, California 94704, USA. pnygaard@prev.org

Grants: AA 06282 (Agency:United States NIAAA)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Substance use & misuse (Subst Use Misuse), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 38 (issue 7) : pp 835-63

Dates: Created 2003/06/12; Completed 2003/09/04; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12801145, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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