The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a program designed to reduce teen crashes and risky driving by increasing parental monitoring and restriction of their adolescents' driving practices during the first year of licensed driving.

Condition	Treatment or Intervention
Accidents, Traffic Health Education	Behavior: Teen Driving: Program for parents

Further Study Details: 

Expected Total Enrollment:  10000

Motor vehicle crashes are the major cause of death and disability among adolescents from 16 through 20 years of age. While adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19 years constitute only 5% of all licensed drivers, they are involved in 15% of the crashes in which they or other occupants are killed. In fact, 16-year-old drivers are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash as the general population of drivers and 17-year-olds are more than 6 times as likely. In addition, for each adolescent motor vehicle fatality, approximately 100 nonfatal injuries occur, making crashes the leading cause of disability due to head and spinal cord injuries in adolescents.

Parents can have a huge impact on adolescent behavior. However, the impact of parenting practices on adolescent driving behavior has not yet been examined. This study aims to determine the efficacy of an intervention designed to increase parents' involvement in, and parental restrictions on, their teens' early driving experiences in order to reduce the number of tickets and crashes among teen drivers. The intervention provides educational materials to parents and adolescents from the time the adolescent gets a learner's permit through the first 6 months of licensure. These persuasive communications are tailored to adolescents' level of driving experience. The intervention materials make explicit the increased risk associated with adolescent driving and methods for reducing risk through increased parental involvement in and restriction of driving.

Participants were recruited in the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicle offices as adolescents applied for their learner's permits. Participants were randomized to either the intervention group or the control group. The control group received standard information about driving not related to the specific teen risks focused on in the intervention group materials. All participants completed interviews at study entry, licensure, 3 months after licensure, 6 months after licensure, and 12 months after licensure. Parents were asked about their expectations and parenting practices regarding their adolescents' driving behaviors. Adolescents were asked about their driving practices and their parents' rules and restrictions regarding driving. The driving records for each adolescent were obtained from the state motor vehicle administration and examined 18 months after licensure.

Ages Eligible for Study:  16 Years   -   16 Years,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Lives with parent/guardian at least 50% of the time
• Obtains learner's driving permit
• Family members are able to complete interviews in English

Study chairs or principal investigators

Bruce Simons-Morton, EdD, MPH,  Principal Investigator,  Prevention Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, NICHD   

Study ID Numbers:  N01HD83285; Z01 HD 01707-01; N01-HD-8-3285
Record last reviewed:  May 2003
Last Updated:  October 13, 2004
Record first received:  June 17, 2003
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00062829
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-04-08