Predicting Underage Drinking and Driving: A Regional Study
Principal Investigator: Joel W. Grube, Ph.D.

Drinking and driving (DUI) and riding with drinking drivers (RWDD) are serious problems for underage adolescents and young adults. Prevention of these behaviors should be a public health priority. Little current data are available, however, regarding the prevalence of these behaviors in representative samples of young people. In addition, there is only a limited understanding of the social-psychological processes that underlie underage DUI and RWDD or how these processes may differ by gender and ethnicity. This study undertakes a random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone survey of 1,400 15 to 20-year-old adolescents and young adults from California. The survey collects data continuously over a two-year period. African American, Asian American, and Latino youth will be over-sampled. In addition to providing detailed data on the prevalence of underage DUI and RWDD, the survey proceeds from a relatively well-developed conceptual model and will obtain data on a range of environmental and social-psychological variables.

The study has five specific goals:

Obtain systematic data on the overall prevalence of DUI and RWDD in a representative sample of underage young people from a large western state (California) with an ethnically and culturally diverse population

Investigate differences in the extent of involvement in DUI and RWDD among young men and women from major ethnic groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, and Latinos) and attempt to ascertain why such differences occur

Provide information about the seasonal patterning of underage DUI and RWDD

Model underage DUI and RWDD using structural equations analyses with latent variables in order to gain a better understanding of the environmental and social-psychological factors that underlie these behaviors, their relative predictive importance, and whether they affect DUI and RWDD directly or are mediated through other variables.

Undertake multi-group structural equations analyses to investigate differences and similarities in the predictors of DUI and RWDD among young men and women who are African American, Asian Americans, European American, or Latino.

The ultimate goals of this research are:

To provide a better understanding of how and why young people become involved in DUI and RWDD, and

To provide a better basis for designing and implementing more effective interventions to reduce and prevent these behaviors.

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