Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL.
Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2019 Oct/Nov;40(8):581-588. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000706.
Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death among teenagers, accounting for approximately 1 in 3 deaths for this age group. A number of factors increase crash risk for teen drivers, including vulnerability to distraction, poor judgment, propensity to engage in risky driving behaviors, and inexperience. These factors may be of particular concern and exacerbated among teens learning to drive with attention deficits. To our knowledge, our study is among the first to systematically investigate the experiences of novice adolescent drivers with attention deficits during the learner period of a Graduated Drivers Licensing program.
Survey and on-road driving assessment (ODA) data were used to examine parent and teen confidence in the teens' driving ability, driving practice frequency, diversity of driving practice environments, and driving errors among teens with attention deficits as defined by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis or parent-reported trouble staying focused (TSF).
When teens' driving skill was evaluated at the conclusion of the learner period, teens with ADHD exhibited more driving errors than their typically developing (TD) counterparts (p = 0.034). Teens with TSF were more likely to have their ODA terminated (p = 0.019), had marginally lower overall driving scores (p = 0.098), and exhibited more critical driving errors (p = 0.01) compared with TD teens.
These findings may have implications on the learning-to-drive period for adolescents with attention deficits. Adjustments may need to be made to the learner period for teens with attention deficits to account for attention impairments and to better instill safe driving behavior.
机动车碰撞是青少年死亡的主要原因，约占该年龄段死亡人数的 1/3。许多因素会增加青少年司机发生车祸的风险，包括易分心、判断力差、倾向于冒险驾驶行为以及缺乏经验。这些因素在学习驾驶时注意力缺陷的青少年中可能特别令人担忧和加剧。据我们所知，我们的研究是首次系统地调查有注意力缺陷的新手青少年在驾驶执照分级制度的学习期间的驾驶经验。
使用调查和道路驾驶评估（ODA）数据来检查父母和青少年对青少年驾驶能力的信心、驾驶练习的频率、驾驶练习环境的多样性以及注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）诊断或父母报告的注意力不集中（TSF）的青少年的驾驶错误。
当在学习期结束时评估青少年的驾驶技能时，ADHD 青少年比他们的典型发展（TD）同龄人表现出更多的驾驶错误（p = 0.034）。TSF 的青少年更有可能终止他们的 ODA（p = 0.019），他们的整体驾驶得分略低（p = 0.098），并且与 TD 青少年相比，他们表现出更多的关键驾驶错误（p = 0.01）。
这些发现可能对有注意力缺陷的青少年的学习驾驶期产生影响。可能需要对有注意力缺陷的青少年的学习期进行调整，以考虑到注意力缺陷，并更好地灌输安全驾驶行为。
