Examining a crash risk factor for teens: Determinants of cell phone use among novice teen drivers

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for adolescents. Adolescent cell phone use while driving leads to increased crash risk. Identification of antecedents of cell phone (CP) use among novice drivers is necessary to inform critical prevention programs and policies.

Secondary data analysis was conducted of a school-based nationally representative survey of 9th-11th graders (N = 5665) from 68 high schools in 2006. Studied constructs included perceived consequences of and factors leading to CP disuse and descriptive norms regarding CP use.

Univariate and means analyses were conducted in Phase I with data weighted to represent the U.S. population. Phase II includes multivariate analyses, primarily logistic regression. Analyses are driven by relationships specified by the Theory of Reasoned Action.

Results. Dominant perceived consequences of CP disuse while driving include: (positive) paying better attention to driving; less likely to get into accident and (negative) wouldn't be able to tell people where I am/when I will arrive; couldn't call someone if I get lost; parents couldn't call me when they need me.

Actual CP use while driving was significantly associated with positive (F(2,4031)=207.1;p<0.001) and negative (F(2,3988)=82.2;p<0.001) consequence beliefs. Adolescents who rarely or never used a cell phone while driving reported the strongest positive consequence beliefs about CP disuse (M=4.33,SD=0.06) and the weakest negative consequence beliefs for this behavior (M =2.98,SD=0.06).

Discussion. Increasing adolescent CP disuse while driving may involve targeting beliefs about its consequences. The significant relationships between these beliefs and behavior can be used to inform intervention design.