This study examines adolescents' drinking locations, commonalities among these locations, and the possible importance of these locations for understanding adolescent drinking-driving, riding with a drinking-driver and collision involvement. The data were obtained from a survey of 570 adolescent drivers aged 16-18. Participants identified the locations in which they had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months. Principal components analysis of the drinking location data indicated the presence of four drinking-location factors, which were labelled Party Drinking, Sociable Drinking, Home Drinking, and Vehicle Drinking. Logistic regressions indicated that the likelihood of drinking driving, riding with a drinking driver, and collision involvement were significantly affected by drinking location factors, after demographic factors were controlled for. However, the contributing drinking location factors differed depending on the outcome measure involved.
Abstract