The prevalence was examined of impaired driving among US high school students and associations with substance use and risky driving behavior. Driving while alcohol or drug impaired (DWI) and riding with alcohol- or drug-impaired drivers (RWI) was assessed in a nationally representative sample of 11th-grade US high school students (n = 2431). Associations were examined with drinking and binge drinking, illicit drug use, risky driving, and demographic factors using multivariate sequential logistic regression analysis. Thirteen percent of 11th-grade students reported DWI at least 1 of the past 30 days, and 24% reported RWI at least once in the past year. Risky driving was positively associated with DWI (odds ratio [OR] = 1.25; P < .001) and RWI (OR = 1.09; P < .05), controlling for binge drinking (DWI: OR = 3.17; P < .01; RWI: OR = 6.12; P < .001) and illicit drug use (DWI: OR = 5.91; P < .001; RWI: OR = 2.29; P = .05). DWI was higher for adolescents who drove after midnight (OR = 15.7), drove while sleepy or drowsy (OR = 8.6), read text messages (OR = 11.8), sent text messages (OR = 5.0), and made cell phone calls (OR = 3.2) while driving. The findings suggest the need for comprehensive approaches to the prevention of DWI, RWI, and other risky driving behavior. (Author/publisher)
Abstract