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PRB Research - Young Drivers
Parental Management of Young Drivers
This series of intervention evaluation studies tests the efficacy and effectiveness of the Checkpoints Program for increasing parental management of teen drivers. The Checkpoints intervention includes persuasive communications, including a nine-minute videotape, "Who Wants to Be A Driver?" These materials have been designed to increase families' perceived risk, outcome expectations, and self-efficacy of parental management, and to promote the adoption of the Checkpoints Parent-Teen Driving Agreement.
Principal investigator
Bruce Simons-Morton, Ed.D., M.P.H.
Connecticut Young Drivers Intervention Study
A sample of approximately 4,000 families in Connecticut were recruited at the time the teen passed the test for a learner's permit. Families were assessed five times, from recruitment until 12 months post-licensure. Intervention materials were delivered over an extended period prior to licensure. The first 450 families were treated as a "vanguard" to allow the researchers to test the protocol and make changes before full implementation. Analyses of treatment group differences with the vanguard indicated effects on parental restrictions through 12 months. Analyses of the full trial are ongoing.
Maryland Young Driver Intervention Study
This study was designed to test the efficacy of the Checkpoints Program administered at the time of licensure. In one Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration office, approximately 600 families were recruited at the time the teen passed the test for a license. Intervention families viewed the video and were encouraged by research staff to adopt the Checkpoints Parent-Teen Driving Agreement. Treatment group differences were about the same as noted in Connecticut, where the intervention was implemented during a long period prior to licensure, but for which there was no personal contact with the families. Analyses of these data are underway.
Rhode Island Checkpoints Study
The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of personal persuasion for increasing parent limit setting on the driving conditions of novice teen drivers. Families are recruited at the time the teen obtains a permit and receive the Checkpoints intervention delivered in person by trained staff. They receive the intervention again, delivered in person by trained staff at licensure.
The Michigan Driver Education Study
Two studies are underway in collaboration with investigators at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. These group randomized trials will evaluate the efficacy of implementing the Checkpoints Program during driver education courses. In the first study, research staff deliver the intervention. In the second study, driver education instructors are trained to deliver the intervention.
Collaborators