Citation

Trivedi N, Haynie D, Bible J, Liu D, Simons-Morton B. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2017; 106: 450-455.

Affiliation

Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2017.04.013

PMID

28735180

Abstract

Secondary task engagement such as cell phone use while driving is a common behavior among adolescents and emerging adults. Texting and other distracting cell phone use in this population contributes to the high rate of fatal car crashes. Peer engagement in similar risky driving behaviors, such as texting, could socially influence driver phone use behavior. The present study investigates the prospective association between peer and emerging adult texting while driving the first year after high school. Surveys were conducted with a national sample of emerging adults and their nominated peers. Binomial logistic regression analyses, adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, and family affluence, showed that participants (n=212) with peers (n=675) who reported frequently texting while driving, were significantly more likely to text while driving the following year (odds ratio, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.19-7.59; P=0.05). The findings are consistent with the idea that peer texting behavior influences the prevalence of texting while driving among emerging adults.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Cell phone use; Driving behavior; Peer influence; Peer-reported cell phone use; Secondary task engagement