ECPN poster contestant: Cell Phone Use While Driving: Does Peer-Reported Use Predict Emerging Adult Behavior

Introduction: Cell phone use while driving is prevalent among teenagers and young adults despite distracted driving laws. Social Norms Theory suggests that individual behaviors are influenced oftentimes by incorrect perceptions of how their social groups act. Perception of peer distracted driving behaviors differs from peer-reported risky driving behaviors. This paper objectively measures peer-reported behaviors for cell phone use while driving in addition to participant-reported use. The present study investigates the influence of peer-reported cell phone use on emerging adult cell phone use while driving a year later.

Method: The NEXT Generation Health Study is a longitudinal cohort study of a U.S. nationally representative sample of 10th-grade students who completed survey assessments of health behaviors. During first year after high school (W4), a subsample of participants (NEXT Plus) nominated peers to also participate in the survey. Our analyses included 212 NEXT Plus participants who nominated at least 1 peer, had independent license at W5, and drove at least 1 day in the past 30 days. Four outcomes of cell phone use were examined: made/answered a call, read/sent a text, read/sent an email, and checked a website, recorded as a fraction of number of days with each behavior among number of days driving in the past 30 days. Number of peers (n=675) per participant ranged from 1-6. Peer 30-day cell phone use variables were first aggregated at the participant level (for each participant the sum of peers cell phone use divided by the sum of days driven), and then categorized based on the frequency of the behavior. Binomial logistic regression was conducted to test the association between peer and adolescent cell phone use adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, and family affluence.

Results: Participants with peers who were “frequent tasker” for texting while driving, were significantly more likely to text while driving (OR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.19 to 7.59; p=0.05), compared with those with “non-tasker” peers. Participants had elevated risk of calling and checking websites if their peers had the same behaviors, but the association did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions: We found an association between young adult and peers texting while driving. The peer-reported data bolsters the limited research on peer influence among young drivers and risky driving behaviors. These findings suggest prevention efforts focus on social networks of youth when targeting young adults distracted driving behaviors, and intervention strategies be tailored towards texting while driving.