Autos, Alcohol, and Adolescence: Forgotten Concerns and Overlooked Linkages

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Abstract
Research, education and prevention efforts dealing with adolescent alcohol use and traffic safety have been focused almost exclusively upon the phenomenon of drinking and driving. Such focus has unfortunately led to a general disregard of other equally important behaviors related to alcohol and automobile use. Of particular concern in this paper is the existence of a group of adolescents who ride with a drinking driver but do not drink and drive themselves. In an attempt to socially locate and better understand this segment of the population, we compare this group to those who both drink and drive and ride with a drinking driver, and those who do neither. Specific attention is given to selected socio-demographic characteristics and alcohol related attitudes and behaviors as group discriminating factors. In addition, the findings suggest that the practice of riding with a drinking driver may be causally linked to the eventual practice of drinking and driving.