The young driver
Parenting and the Young Driver Problem

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Abstract

Crash rates increase sharply at the age at which teenagers begin to drive and remain elevated relative to adult levels until drivers are well into their twenties. Parents have important roles to play in managing the risk for teenage drivers before and after licensure. Parents can be involved in their teenagers' driving, allowing them to test for permit and licensure, supervising practice driving, providing access to a vehicle, and setting and enforcing limits on driving privileges after licensure. However, the management practices of many parents may not be sufficient to provide safety effects. The literature indicates that the two most important decisions parents can make to reduce teenagers' driving risk are to delay licensure and impose limits on high-risk driving conditions (such as driving at night and with teenage passengers) during the first year of licensure. Two intervention programs have been shown to increase parental limit setting as a means of reducing risky driving behaviors and improving driving performance among novice teenage drivers. This article describes the contexts of and opportunities for parental involvement in teenage driving and the effectiveness of interventions to increase and improve parental management of young drivers.

Introduction

When teenagers begin to drive, crash rates increase sharply. These rates remain elevated until young drivers are well into their twenties, relative to adult levels.1, 2 The phenomenon of persistently high crash rates among teenage drivers has come to be known as the “young driver problem.” The first year of licensure is a special part of the young driver problem, here called the “novice young driver problem,” which is typified by highly elevated crash rates immediately after licensure that decline rapidly for about 6 months and then more slowly for years.3, 4 It seems that novice drivers are not very good when first licensed, but get much better over time. This article focuses on novice teenagers (aged 16–18 years) because this part of the young driver problem is particularly amenable to licensing policy and parental involvement.

Parents provide substantial influence on adolescent behavior in general and have particularly important roles to play with respect to novice teenage driving. Notably, licensing programs leave many important decisions about teenage driving to parents. Specifically, parents can determine when teenagers test for a learner's permit, when they take driver education and which course they select, how much and what type of supervised practice driving they get, when they can test for an independent license, when they are allowed access to a vehicle, and what their driving privileges are after licensure.5, 6 However, the actual role parents play in novice teenage driving has not been well studied, and the literature is incomplete with respect to the extent and nature of parental involvement. As central as parents seem to this process, they have largely been an afterthought in licensing programs. This article describes parental involvement at each step of the early driving process and reviews the effectiveness of interventions to increase and improve parental management of novice young drivers.

Section snippets

Authoritative Parenting Practices

Parental influence on adolescent behavior is best considered within broad social and cultural contexts.7, 8 Recognizing the considerable variability in parent–child relationships, parental influence during teenage years stems, in part, from many years of parenting practices and parent–child bonding prior to adolescence.9 Consequently, the effectiveness of parenting practices with respect to age-specific adolescent behavior depends on the extent to which adolescents have internalized the

Driver License Policies and Parenting

Licensing policy largely determines the timing and nature of parental involvement in novice teenage driving. In the U.S., licensing policies vary considerably. In 2007, 44 states (of 50) and the District of Columbia had in place some form of graduated driver licensing (GDL) with three distinct periods: the learner's permit period, a provisional licensing period in which teenagers can drive independently under some restrictions, and full licensure.32, 33, 34 In a majority of states, teenagers

Parental Involvement During Provisional Licensure

Parental involvement is probably most important once teenagers obtain a provisional license and can drive independently. This section describes parental involvement in limit setting, the use of electronic monitoring devices, and issues of vehicle access and safety.

Interventions to Increase Parental Involvement

Parents can and should be involved in novice teenage driving, and their appropriate involvement might partially alleviate the teenage driving problem. Parental involvement at each step of the driving process is important, but the evidence indicates that the most important actions would be to delay licensure and then, for some months after licensure, to maintain strict limits on high-risk driving conditions while novices gain experience and develop complex driving skills. These actions by

Discussion and Conclusion

This article focuses on the role of parents in teenage driving. The young driver problem is complicated, and it is notable that novices become safer drivers only gradually as they gain independent driving experience. The main options for parents and policymakers concerned about teenage driving are to delay licensure, improve driver education, extend requirements for supervised practice driving, and limit the driving conditions for a time after licensure. GDL is the most important and effective

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