219351 National estimates of formal driver education participation among adolescent drivers

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Allison Curry, PhD, MPH , The Center for Injury Research and Prevention, The Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Felipe Garcia-España, PhD , The Center for Injury Research and Prevention, The Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Flaura K. Winston, MD, PhD , The Center for Injury Research and Prevention, The Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD , Adolescent Medicine, The Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Dennis R. Durbin, MD, MSCE , The Center for Injury Research and Prevention, The Children's Hosptial of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Background: Driver inexperience is a main factor contributing to the high motor vehicle crash rate among adolescents. Provision of quality instruction prior to licensure is crucial for promoting knowledge and skill acquisition in this at-risk population. Purpose: To describe the participation of adolescents in formal driver education (DE) by sociodemographic factors in a nationally-representative sample. Significance: First nationally-representative survey of young drivers to describe formal DE participation by demographics and presence of state-mandated DE laws. Methodology: The National Young Driver Survey was conducted in 2006 among a nationally-representative sample of 5,665 9th through 11th graders in 68 public high schools in 34 states. Analyses were restricted to 1,770 licensed drivers, who reported participation in formal DE instruction. Findings/Results: A total of 78.8% (95% CI: 69.1, 86.0) of adolescent drivers reported participating in formal DE instruction. Most adolescents, 55.2%, participated in both behind-the-wheel and classroom instruction. However, 10.4% had only classroom instruction and 13.1% had only behind-the-wheel instruction. Participation in formal instruction was most common for adolescents who were Caucasian, earned mostly A's and B's, and attended a school in a suburban school district. Adolescents living in states with mandatory DE laws were nearly twice as likely to participate in both classroom and behind-the-wheel instruction compared to adolescents in non-mandatory states (62.0% vs. 34.5%, p=0.04). Conclusions/Recommendations: Participation in DE significantly varies by academic achievement, state-level policy, urbanicity and race. These data serve as a foundation from which suggested programmatic and policy-level changes to the DE infrastructure can be based.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify the frequency of adolescent drivers’ participation in classroom and behind-the-wheel formal driver education instruction Describe differences in formal driver education instruction by academic achievement, state-level policy, urbanicity and race

Keywords: Adolescents, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Dr. Durbin is a pediatric emergency physician and clinical epidemiologist. He is a Professor of Pediatrics at CHOP and The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. An internationally recognized leader in pediatric trauma and motor vehicle safety research, he serves as an attending physician in the Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital and the Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention. Dr. Durbin’s research interests are in the area of pediatric injury epidemiology, with particular emphasis on the prevention of motor vehicle occupant injuries to children and the prevention of teen driver crashes. He has received both federal and industry support for his research and served as the co-principal investigator of Partners for Child Passenger Safety, a joint effort between Children’s Hospital and State Farm Insurance Companies®, as well as co-principal investigator of the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) Center at Children’s Hospital. Dr. Durbin’s research has been recognized by a number of organizations with several awards, including the Peter K. O’Rourke Special Achievement Award in Highway Safety from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, the Elaine Wodzin Young Achiever Award from the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine and the Highway Safety Hero Award for Innovative Research from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.