Motor vehicle crashes are the major cause of death and injury among adolescents. PRB has developed a program of research, including observational and prospective studies, that focuses on reducing teen driving risk by increasing parental management of teen driving, which has not been examined thoroughly. Results from preliminary studies indicated that teen risky driving behaviors, traffic violations, and crashes were related to low parental monitoring and lenient driving restrictions, especially in the first month of licensure. Based on these findings, a large randomized trial was designed to increase parental restriction on and monitoring of teen early driving experiences. In this trial, 4,000 parent-teen dyads are being recruited as teens get their learner's permits in Connecticut. Families are randomly assigned to special intervention or general education groups and followed for two years. In pilot studies, we tested the use of persuasive communications (PCs) in the form of newsletters and a parent-teen driving agreement to influence parent restriction of teen driving. The results indicated that exposure to these PCs positively affected parent attitudes toward the benefits of restrictions and parents reporting placing more strict limits on their teens driving than they originally intended. A full-scale pilot of the intervention is underway to assess recruitment schemes, program materials, and measures for the main trial. Preliminary results indicate that compared to parents and teens in the control group, both parents and teens in the intervention group reported stricter limits on teens' driving at night, with teen passengers, and on high-speed roads. The main trial is scheduled to begin September 2001. The results of our research thus far show promise for increasing parent limits on teen driving.
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