Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 31, 2025

Driving Under the Influence: How Music Listening Affects Driving Behaviors
Published on: March 27, 2019
Low Self-Control, Social Learning, and Texting while Driving
Ryan Charles Meldrum1, John H Boman2, Sinchul Back3
1Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St., PCA-364B, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
Abstract:
Despite the known implications of texting while driving for reducing driver alertness and increasing traffic accidents, investigating the potential causes of the behavior is something that criminologists have only recently started to investigate. The current study builds on this small body of research by assessing whether low self-control is associated with the frequency of texting while driving and, further, whether this association is moderated by perceptions of the texting habits of other drivers and best friends. Results based on data collected from a sample of 469 young adults indicate that low self-control is positively associated with the frequency of texting while driving. In addition, this association is amplified by an individual's perceptions of the proportion of other drivers who engage in texting while driving, but not by the texting and driving habits of best friends.
Related Concept Videos
Schemas
Self-Regulation
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Social Scripts
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Self-Awareness and Its Effects

