Who's Not Driving Among U.S. High School Seniors: A Closer Look at Race/ethnicity, Socioeconomic Factors, and Driving Status

Overview

Journal Traffic Inj Prev

Specialties Emergency Medicine
Public Health

Date 2016 Apr 12

PMID 27064697

Citations 8

Authors

Ruth A Shults

Tanima Banerjee

Timothy Perry

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: We examined associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status in a nationally representative sample of >26,000 U.S. high school seniors.

Methods: Weighted data from the 2012 and 2013 Monitoring the Future surveys were combined and analyzed. We imputed missing values using fully conditional specification multiple imputation methods. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was conducted to explore associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status, while accounting for selected student behaviors and location. Lastly, odds ratios were converted to prevalence ratios.

Results: 23% of high school seniors did not drive during an average week; 14% of white students were nondrivers compared to 40% of black students. Multivariate analysis revealed that minority students were 1.8 to 2.5 times more likely to be nondrivers than their white counterparts, and students who had no earned income were 2.8 times more likely to be nondrivers than those earning an average of ≥$36 a week. Driving status also varied considerably by student academic performance, number of parents in the household, parental education, census region, and urbanicity.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that resources-both financial and time-influence when or whether a teen will learn to drive. Many young people from minority or lower socioeconomic families who learn to drive may be doing so after their 18th birthday and therefore would not take advantage of the safety benefits provided by graduated driver licensing. Innovative approaches may be needed to improve safety for these young novice drivers.

Citing Articles

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Does geographic location matter for transportation risk behaviors among U.S. public high school students?.

Shults R, Shaw K, Yellman M, Jones S J Transp Health. 2022; 22.

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Unlicensed driving among young drivers in North Carolina: a quasi-induced exposure analysis.

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Association between a delay in driving licensure and driving while impaired and riding with an impaired driver among emerging adults.

Vaca F, Li K, Haynie D, Simons-Morton B, Romano E, Fell J Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021; 45(4):793-801.

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