The United States is a vehicle-dependent society and allows teens to obtain
drivers licenses at age 16 or younger. Many factors have been linked to teen risky
driving behaviors that resulted in teens receiving their first citations.
This was the first study to investigate parental management of teens after they
received their first citations for risky driving behaviors and the effect of parent
attendance at 4-H CARTEENS, a remedial program developed by The Ohio State
University Extension (4-H Youth Development program), Ohio State Highway Patrol,
and the county juvenile justice system.
The study used a quasi-experimental design to analyze 243 teen drivers in
attendance at 4-H CARTEENS who responded to a survey about risky driving
behaviors, parental control, and parental restrictions; 187 respondents completed the study.
Most of the teens were 17 years old (55%), male (51%), and White (92%), and
most were high school juniors and seniors who had received their drivers license at
age 16 (86%). The most frequent risky driving behavior was “driving distractions,”
and the least frequent was “substance abuse driving.”
Young male drivers reported more risky driving behaviors on average (29
more times per month) than did females. The teen drivers indicated that their parents ensured they had enough practice driving before getting their license. They strongly agreed with the restriction of not drinking and driving. The teen drivers responded more in agreement to parent control issues than parent restrictions. Parent management for control and restrictions was related to reducing risky driving behaviors. As teens advanced in school and drove more frequently per week, their risky driving behaviors increased. The data showed a reduction in risky driving behaviors from Time 1 to Time 2 with a medium effect after the teens attended the 4-H CARTEENS program. 4-H CARTEENS had a medium effect for reducing risky driving behaviors in the areas of speeding, lane use, and vehicle control. 4-H CARTEENS counties with parents attending reported fewer risky driving behaviors than did those counties without parents attending. The regression analysis indicated that more parent management control and less frequency of driving per week predicted a reduction of risky driving behaviors.
Overall, this investigation found that the 4-H CARTEENS program reduced
teens’ risky driving behaviors. Future studies should replicate this study using a larger sample size involving more 4-H CARTEENS counties to assess the program in
reducing risky driving behaviors and measure the importance of parents attending the 4-H CARTEENS program with their teens.