Sally Dunlop, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral fellow in APPC’s Annenberg Center for Advanced Study in Communication, and Dan Romer, Ph.D., associate director of APPC and director of its Adolescent Communication Institute, published a health brief, “Adolescent and young adult crash risk: Sensation seeking, substance use propensity and substance use behaviors,” in the Journal of Adolescent Health (vol. 46, 2010). The authors use data from the 2007 National Annenberg Survey of Youth to explore factors related to motor vehicle crash risk in youth.
Article abstract:
In a national youth sample, the propensity to use substances was more strongly related to motor vehicle crashes than use of any specific substance studied (cigarette, alcohol, marijuana). Substance use propensity was associated with sensation seeking, suggesting that increased crash risk for these youth is likely a result of general risk-taking tendencies.
