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Thursday, March 29, 2007

Social and Behavioral Characteristics of Young Adult Drink/Drivers Adjusted for Level of Alcohol Use

 Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31 (4), 655–664.


Alcohol consumption and drink/driving are positively correlated and many predictors of alcohol use also predict drink/driving. Past research has not fully distinguished the contributions of personal risk factors from the level of alcohol use in the prediction of drink/driving. As a result, the extent to which predictors are specific to drink/driving, versus due to a mutual association to alcohol use, is unclear.

Lower perceived risk of drink/driving, greater social support for drinking and drink/driving, greater aggression and delinquency, more cigarette smoking, and more risky driving behaviors uniquely predicted drink/driving severity in models adjusted for alcohol use. The largest ARs were associated with social support for drinking and drink/driving and perceived risk of drink/driving.

These results confirm that alcohol use and drink/driving share risk factors, but also indicate that part of the variation in these factors is specific to drink/driving. Implications for interventions to reduce drink/driving are discussed.

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