Few rules set by parents and teens' access to their own cars might increase the risk for a car accident.
Many parents fear the day that their teenagers drive for the first time. Investigators examined the relation between access to a car and parenting style and risk for car crashes in a nationally representative survey of about 5000 students in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. General parenting style was determined based on adolescent reports and was categorized as authoritative (high support and high control), authoritarian (low support and high control), permissive (high support and low control), and uninvolved (low support and low control).
Teenagers who reported that they were the main drivers of a vehicle (primary access) were twice as likely to report that they had been involved in a crash during the past 12 months as teenage drivers who reported shared access to a car. Teenagers whose parents were categorized as authoritative were significantly less likely to report involvement in crashes as the driver or passenger during the past 12 months than teenagers of parents who were categorized as uninvolved, (odds ratio, 0.47 and 0.73, respectively). Teenagers with authoritarian or authoritative parents were significantly more likely than those with uninvolved parents to use seat belts as drivers and passengers.
Comment: As a father of two teenage boys who began driving during the past 3 years, I read these reports with great interest. The results suggest that parents who set few rules and give their children ready access to a car might increase the likelihood that their teenagers will have a car accident and reduce the likelihood that they will use a seat belt. My wife has been telling me that for years! Raising adolescents is fraught with challenges, some of which are to establish rules, be consistent, and not acquiesce to all requests despite protests.
— Howard Bauchner, MD
Published in Journal Watch Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine October 28, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment