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Promoting parental management of teen driving
B G Simons-Morton1, J L Hartos, W A Leaf
1Prevention Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 6100 Executive Blvd, 7B05 Bethesda, MD 20892-7510, USA. mortonb@mail.nih.gov
Objective:
Parenting may be an important protective factor against teen driving risk; however, parents do not limit teen driving as much as might be expected. The Checkpoint Program was designed to promote parental management of teen driving through the use of staged persuasive communications.
Methods:
Parent-teen dyads (n = 452) were recruited when teens received learner's permits and interviewed over the telephone at baseline, licensure, and three months post-licensure. After baseline, families were randomized to either the intervention group that received persuasive communications or to the comparison group that received general information about driving safety.
Results:
Both parents and teens in the intervention group reported significantly greater limits on teen driving at licensure and three months post-licensure. In multivariate analyses, intervention and baseline driving expectations had significant effects on driving limits at licensure. Intervention and driving limits established at licensure were associated with three month driving limits.
Conclusion:
The findings indicate that exposure to the Checkpoints Program increased parental limits on teen driving.