Adolescent pedestrians are a major population at risk of being killed or injured in traffic accidents, especially in developing countries. In the current study, we examined the effects of age, gender, sensation seeking, and conformity tendency on Chinese adolescent pedestrians¦ intention to cross the road against a traffic signal. A sample of 510 adolescents, aged 12_19 years, completed a series of questionnaires comprising (1) a demographic questionnaire, (2) scales which measured their tendency towards social conformity and sensation seeking, and (3) a questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which measured their intention to cross theroad in two different traffic scenarios. One scenario depicted a situation where the crossing was consistent with other pedestrians¦ behavior (Conformity scenario). In the second scenario, the road crossing was inconsistent with other pedestrians (Non-conformity scenario). Along with behavioralintentions, attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, anticipated affect, moral norms, and perceived risk were also assessed. In general, adolescent participants reported greater likelihood in crossing the road when other pedestrians were crossing the road as well (Conformity with the masses) and adolescents in middle school weremore likely to cross than those in high school. A hierarchical regressionmodel explained 30% of the variance in behavioral intention in the Non-conformity scenario and 40% of the variance in the Conformity scenario. For both scenarios, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and anticipated affect emerged as common predictors. The theoretical and practical implications for these results are discussed. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Samenvatting