Longitudinal associations between internalizing symptoms and driving avoidance in newly licensed adolescents

Extensive literature assesses risky adolescent driving, but nothing examines what makes teens avoid driving. Many assume teenagers are eager to drive, but evidence suggests internalizing symptoms lead some to avoid driving.

This study tested whether depressive and anxious symptomology predicted longitudinal driving avoidance in novice teen drivers.

N = 56 16-year-olds (52% female; 48% Black/African American) completed three observations over 6 months. At Time 1, participants reported depressive (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression 10-item Scale) and anxious (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale) symptomologies, and driving avoidance (Driving Habits Questionnaire [DHQ]), repeating DHQ at Times 2 and 3. Multiple linear regression tested whether symptomologies predicted avoidance at licensure. Linear mixed models tested associations between symptomologies and avoidance over time.

High anxiety predicted greater avoidance at baseline and over 6 months. Depressive symptoms did not predict avoidance.

Findings warrant an assessment of anxious adolescents' barriers to driving and avoidance impacts on crash risk.