Shared and distinct parental influences on teen impaired driving in rural and suburban contexts: A mixed methods study of young drivers.

OBJECTIVE

To explore shared and distinct parental influences on rural and suburban adolescents' riding with an impaired driver (RWI) and driving while impaired (DWI) behaviors during high school.

METHODS

Participants in the NEXT Generation Health Study (NEXT) were classified into four RWI/DWI trajectory classes (i.e., Abstainer, Escalator, Decliner, Persister) which described patterns of RWI/DWI from high school to emerging adulthood. A follow-up, in-depth, qualitative interview was conducted with a purposeful selection of participants from each trajectory class between March and September 2020. Guided by Ecodevelopmental Theory, the interview included questions which explored parent-teen influences on driving and RWI/DWI.

RESULTS

Imposition of a curfew was a shared parental influence in rural and suburban contexts. Unique to the rural context, parent modeling of RWI/DWI was described as normative and occurring since childhood.

CONCLUSIONS

Prevention interventions targeting parent RWI/DWI may reduce their children's risk for RWI/DWI among rural adolescents.