Adolescent and adult drivers’ mobile phone use while driving with different interlocutors

• Published in: Accident analysis and prevention Vol. 104; pp. 18 - 23
• Main Authors: Mirman, Jessica H., Durbin, Dennis R., Lee, Yi-Ching, Seifert, Sara J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2017
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Automobile Driving - statistics & numerical data; Cell Phone - utilization; Distracted driving; Distracted Driving - psychology; Distracted Driving - statistics & numerical data; Female; Humans; Interlocutors; Judgment and decision-making; Male; Mobile phones; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Peer Group; Risk-Taking; Surveys and Questionnaires; Technology addiction; Teen drivers; Distracted driving; Technology addiction; Interlocutors; Judgment and decision-making; Mobile phones; Teen drivers
• ISSN: 0001-4575; 1879-2057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2017.04.014

•Risk perceptions were protective for all drivers across each type of interlocutor.•Symptoms of technology addiction increased reports of MPUWD for all drivers.•Adolescents’ technology addiction symptoms were most relevant for MPUWD with peers.•Parents and adolescents rated MPUWD risk similarly.•Parents’ MPUWD with children was as frequent as adolescents’ MPUWD with peers. We examined the frequency of adolescents’ and their parents’ mobile phone use while driving (MPUWD) in the context of their peer and parent-child interlocutors (i.e., communication partners), considering individual differences in perceived risk and symptoms of technology addiction. Ninety-four participants (47 parent-adolescent dyads) completed a survey battery measuring their symptoms of technology addiction, perceived risk of MPUWD, and MPUWD with family members and with their peers as assessed via the proportion of trips when drivers used a mobile phone to communicate. For both adolescents and their parents across both types of interlocutors (parent-child, peer), stronger risk perceptions were associated with less MPUWD, and stronger symptoms of technology addiction were associated with more MPUWD. A three-way interaction among technology addiction, interlocutor (parent-child, peer), and driver (parent, adolescent) was observed. For adolescents, the association between technology addiction and MPUWD was significantly stronger for MPUWD with their peers than it was for their MPUWD with their parents; this association was not observed for parents. Parents engaged in MPUWD with their children as frequently as adolescents engaged in MPUWD with their peers. Symptoms of technology addiction play a stronger role for adolescents’ MPUWD with their peers than it does for adolescents’ MPUWD with their parents. These and other driver-by-interlocutor interactions should be considered in future research on distracted driving and in prevention efforts.