Novice drivers’ individual trajectories of driver behavior over the first three years of driving

Identifying the changes in driving behavior that underlie the decrease in crash risk over the first few months of driving is key to efforts to reduce injury and fatality risk in novice drivers. This study represented a secondary data analysis of 1148 drivers who participated in the UK Cohort II study. The Driver Behavior Questionnaire was completed at 6 months and 1, 2 and 3 years after licensure. Linear latent growth models indicated significant increases across development in all four dimensions of aberrant driving behavior under scrutiny: aggressive violations, ordinary violations, errors and slips. Unconditional and conditional latent growth class analyses showed that the observed heterogeneity in individual trajectories was explained by the presence of multiple homogeneous groups of drivers, each exhibiting specific trajectories of aberrant driver behavior. Initial levels of aberrant driver behavior were important in identifying sub-groups of drivers. All classes showed positive slopes; there was no evidence of a group of drivers whose aberrant behavior decreased over time that might explain the decrease in crash involvement observed over this period. Male gender and younger age predicted membership of trajectories with higher levels of aberrant behavior. These findings highlight the importance of early intervention for improving road safety. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the behavioral underpinnings of the decrease in crash involvement observed in the early months of driving

Socialization of Problem Behavior in Youth, 1969-1981

The purpose of this project was to examine problem behavior of youth and developmental processes of change and growth within a social-psychological and psychosocial context. It was conducted in two separate phases. The first phase included a longitudinal cohort-sequential "High School Study," a longitudinal "College Study," and a one-wave "Family Interview Study." The second phase, the "Young Adult Follow-Up Study", included two samples of participants from phase one who were followed for two additional waves. The "High School Study" consisted of three randomly sampled cohorts of female and male 7th, 8th, and 9th graders, followed annually from 1969 to 1972, and totaling 589 participants. The "College Study" was comprised of a 1951 birth cohort of 276 female and male participants who were followed annually from 1970 to 1973. A 50-page questionnaire was administered to the participants of both the "High School Study" and the "College Study" during these four waves of data collection. The questionnaire contained a variety of subscales which focused on behavior, personality, and perceived environment. The "High School Study" participants and the "College Study" participants were jointly followed-up in 1979 (Wave V) and 1981 (Wave VI) to form the "Young Adult Follow-Up Study." In Wave VI, there were a total of 384 "High School Study" participants and a total of 184 "College Study" participants. At each data collection, a questionnaire was sent to participants focusing on life issues of importance and related behaviors in young adulthood. A study of maternal ideology, the "Family Interview Study," was conducted in 1970 consisting of 200 parents of participants in the "High School Study." Data gathered through a semistructured interview with mothers covered aspects of parental beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and socialization practices. Mothers and fathers independently filled out a questionnaire consisting of personality and attitude measures

Adolescent problem behavior in Nairobi's informal settlements: applying problem behavior theory in sub-Saharan Africa.

Adolescent involvement in problem behaviors can compromise health, development, and successful transition to adulthood. The present study explores the appropriateness of a particular theoretical framework, Problem Behavior Theory, to account for variation in problem behavior among adolescents in informal settlements around a large, rapidly urbanizing city in sub-Saharan Africa. Data were collected from samples of never married adolescents of both sexes, aged 12-19, living in two Nairobi slum settlements (N = 1,722). Measures of the theoretical psychosocial protective and risk factor concepts provided a substantial, multi-variate, and explanatory account of adolescent problem behavior variation and demonstrated that protection can also moderate the impact of exposure to risk. Key protective and risk factors constitute targets for policies and programs to enhance the health and well-being of poor urban adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa