NCJ Number
109738
Journal
Alcohol Drugs and Driving Volume: 3 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (July-December 1987) Pages: 31-43
Date Published
1987
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study presents new epidemiological data on adolescents' driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and examines the relationship between such behaviors and a wider set of problem behaviors.
Abstract
Data were obtained from the National Youth Survey (NYS), an ongoing prospective longitudinal study of delinquency, crime, alcohol and drug use, and other forms of problem behavior among American youth. For 1983, six new items focused on driving while high on alcohol, marijuana, or other illicit drugs and on accidents linked to the use of these substances. Self-reports for 1983 were for youth aged 18-24. Slightly over 40 percent of the sample drove one or more times while high on alcohol, 20 percent drove while high on marijuana, and 10 percent drove at least once while high on other illicit drugs. A multiple illicit drug user was twice as likely as a person who used only alcohol to have driven while high on alcohol and on marijuana. Just under 90 percent of multiple illicit drug users reported driving under the influence of some drug in 1983. The vast majority of all drug-related accidents involved alcohol (83 percent), although the majority of drunk driving incidents (60 percent) involved marijuana. The majority of incidents of driving on drugs/alcohol were concentrated in a small segment of juveniles involved in multiple illicit drug use and criminal behavior, suggesting that drunk driving is embedded in a more general risk-taking syndrome. 5 tables and 28 references.