Introduction

Teen motor vehicle crash fatality rates differ by geographic location. Studies assessing teen transportation risk behaviors by location are inconclusive. Therefore, we explored the role of census region and metropolitan status for driving prevalence and four transportation risk behaviors among U.S. public high school students.

Methods

Data from 2015 and 2017 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys were combined and analyzed. Multivariable models controlled for sex, age, race/ethnicity, grades in school, and school socioeconomic status.

Results

Overall, 41% of students did not always wear a seat belt. Students attending schools in the Northeast were 40% more likely than those in the Midwest to not always wear a seat belt. Among the 75% of students aged ≥16 years who had driven during the past 30 days, 47% texted/e-mailed while driving. Students in the Northeast were 20% less likely than those in the Midwest to text/e-mail while driving, and students attending suburban or town schools were more likely to text/e-mail while driving (20% and 30%, respectively) than students attending urban schools. Nineteen percent of students rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, and 7% of drivers aged ≥16 years drove when they had been drinking alcohol, with no significant differences by location for either alcohol-related behavior.

Conclusions

We found few differences in teen transportation risk behaviors by census region or metropolitan status. Age at licensure, time since licensure, driving experience, and the policy and physical driving environment might contribute more to variation in teen fatal crashes by location than differences in transportation risk behaviors. Regardless of location, teen transportation risk behaviors remain high. Future research could address developing effective strategies to reduce teen cell phone use while driving and enhancing community implementation of existing, effective strategies to improve seat belt use and reduce alcohol consumption and driving after drinking alcohol.

中文翻译：

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地理位置对美国公立高中学生的交通风险行为是否重要？

介绍

青少年机动车碰撞死亡率因地理位置而异。按位置评估青少年交通风险行为的研究尚无定论。因此，我们探讨了人口普查地区和大都市地位对美国公立高中学生驾驶流行率和四种交通风险行为的作用。

方法

对 2015 年和 2017 年全国青少年风险行为调查的数据进行了合并和分析。控制性别、年龄、种族/民族、学校成绩和学校社会经济地位的多变量模型。

结果

总体而言，41% 的学生并不总是系安全带。与中西部的学生相比，在东北部上学的学生不总是系安全带的可能性要高出40 %。在过去 30 天内开车的 75% 的 16 岁以上学生中，47% 的学生在开车时发短信/发电子邮件。东北部的学生在开车时发短信/电子邮件的可能性比中西部的学生低 20%，而就读于郊区或城镇学校的学生更多比在城市学校就读的学生更可能在开车时发短信/发电子邮件（分别为 20% 和 30%）。19% 的学生与饮酒的司机一起骑行，7% 的 16 岁以上的司机在饮酒时开车，两种与酒精相关的行为在地点上没有显着差异。

结论

我们发现，人口普查地区或大都市地位在青少年交通风险行为方面几乎没有差异。获得执照的年龄、获得执照的时间、驾驶经验以及政策和实际驾驶环境可能比交通风险行为的差异更能导致青少年致命车祸因地点而异。无论位置如何，青少年交通风险行为仍然很高。未来的研究可以解决制定有效的策略，以减少青少年开车时使用手机，并加强社区实施现有的有效策略，以改善安全带的使用，减少饮酒和酒后驾驶。