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, focusing on an understudied area--relations among young driver safety and parenting behaviors. Results from our preliminary studies indicated that teen risky driving behaviors, traffic violations, and crashes were related to low parental monitoring and lenient driving restrictions, especially during the first month of licensure. Based on these findings, the Checkpoints Program was developed to increase parental management of teen unrestricted driving through the use persuasive communications (PCs) in the forms of newsletters and a model driving agreement. Versions of the Checkpoints Program are currently being tested in several large, randomized trials. The results of our research thus far show promise for increasing parent limits on teen driving. In Connecticut, 4,950 parent-teen dyads were recruited as teens obtained learner's permits. Families were randomly assigned to intervention or comparison groups. Intervention families receive the Checkpoints video, newsletters, and driving agreement during the mandatory four-month permit period and follow-up newsletters for the first six months of licensure. Intervention effects are assessed at licensure, and three, six and twelve months post-licensure. Preliminary results from the first 450 parent-teen dyads indicate that both parents and teens in the intervention group report stricter limits on teens' driving at night, with teen passengers, and on high-speed roads at licensure and three-months post-licensure than do those in the comparison group. By 12 months post-licensure, parental restrictions had declined in both groups, but remained significantly higher in the intervention group. In Maryland, 658 parent-teen dyads were recruited as teens obtained provisional driver?s licenses. Families were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups by week of recruitment. Intervention families watched the Checkpoints video and received the Checkpoints Parent-Teen Driving Agreement at the Motor Vehicle Administration. Intervention effects are assessed at one, four, and nine months post-licensure. 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 and higher use of a driving agreement at one and four months post-licensure. By 12 months post-licensure, parental restrictions had declined in both groups but remained significantly higher in the intervention group.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
U.S. National Inst/Child Hlth/Human Dev
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Simons-Morton, Bruce; Ehsani, Johnathon P (2016) Learning to Drive Safely: Reasonable Expectations and Future Directions for the Learner Period. Safety (Basel) 2:
Jackson, John C; Albert, Paul S; Zhang, Zhiwei et al. (2013) Ordinal latent variable models and their application in the study of newly licensed teenage drivers. J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat 62:435-450
Simons-Morton, Bruce G; Cheon, Kyeongmi; Guo, Feng et al. (2013) Trajectories of kinematic risky driving among novice teenagers. Accid Anal Prev 51:27-32
Zakrajsek, Jennifer S; Shope, Jean T; Ouimet, Marie Claude et al. (2009) Efficacy of a brief group parent-teen intervention in driver education to reduce teenage driver injury risk: a pilot study. Fam Community Health 32:175-88
Simons-Morton, Bruce G; Ouimet, Marie Claude; Wang, Jing et al. (2009) Hard Braking Events Among Novice Teenage Drivers By Passenger Characteristics. Proc Int Driv Symp Hum Factors Driv Assess Train Veh Des 2009:236-242
Ando, Mikayo; Asakura, Takashi; Ando, Shinichiro et al. (2007) A psychoeducational program to prevent aggressive behavior among Japanese early adolescents. Health Educ Behav 34:765-76
Simons-Morton, Bruce (2007) Parent involvement in novice teen driving: rationale, evidence of effects, and potential for enhancing graduated driver licensing effectiveness. J Safety Res 38:193-202
Olsen, Erik C B; Lee, Suzanne E; Simons-Morton, Bruce G (2007) Eye Movement Patterns for Novice Teen Drivers Does 6 Months of Driving Experience Make a Difference? Transp Res Rec 2009:8-14
Simons-Morton, Bruce G; Hartos, Jessica L; Leaf, William A et al. (2006) The effects of the checkpoints program on parent-imposed driving limits and crash outcomes among Connecticut novice teen drivers at 6-months post-licensure. J Safety Res 37:9-15
Iannotti, Ronald J; Nansel, Tonja R; Schneider, Stefan et al. (2006) Assessing regimen adherence of adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care 29:2263-7

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