Systematic review of child passenger safety laws and their associations with child restraint system use, injuries and deaths.

Background And Objective: Many countries and all US states have legislation that mandates how children of certain ages and/or sizes should be restrained in vehicles. The objective of the current systematic review was to describe the associations between legislation and three outcomes: child restraint system use, correct child restraint system use and child passenger injuries/deaths.

Methods: Included studies were published between 2004 and 2020 and evaluated associations between child passenger safety laws and the outcomes described above.

An Evaluation of Dual Systems Theories of Adolescent Delinquency in a Normative Longitudinal Cohort Study of Youth.

Dual systems theories of adolescent risk-taking propose that the socioemotional and self-regulation systems develop at different rates, resulting in a peak in sensation-seeking in adolescence at a time when self-regulation abilities are not yet fully mature. This "developmental imbalance" between bottom-up drives for reward and top-down control is proposed to create a period of vulnerability for high-risk behaviors such as delinquency, substance use, unprotected sex, and reckless driving. In this study, data from the Swiss longitudinal normative z-proso study (n = 1522, n = 784 male; aged 11, 13, 15, 17, and 20) were used to test whether the presence of a developmental imbalance between sensation-seeking and self-regulation is associated with trajectories of engagement in delinquency across early adolescence to adulthood.

Evaluating disparities in child occupant protection using a proportion-eliminated approach to mediation.

Objective: While there are clear racial/ethnic disparities in child restraint system (CRS) use, to date no studies have identified mediators that quantitatively explain the relationship between race and CRS use. Therefore, the objective of this study was to provide an example of how a proportion-eliminated approach to mediation may be particularly useful in understanding the complex relationship between race and CRS use.

Methods: Sixty-two mothers with a child between 4-8 years old completed a survey and had their CRS use assessed by a Child Passenger Safety Technician using a structured assessment based on the 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics' Best Practice guidelines.

Advancing our understanding of cognitive development and motor vehicle crash risk: A multiverse representation analysis.

Neurobiological and cognitive maturational models are the dominant theoretical account of adolescents' risk-taking behavior. Both the protracted development of working memory (WM) through adolescence, as well as individual differences in WM capacity have been theorized to be related to risk-taking behavior, including reckless driving. In a cohort study of 84 adolescent drivers Walshe et al.

Variations in booster seat use by child characteristics.

Introduction: Child weight and height are the basis of manufacturer and best practice guidelines for child restraint system use. However, these guides do not address behavioral differences among children of similar age, weight, and height, which may result in child-induced restraint use errors. The objective of this study was to characterize child behaviors across age in relation to appropriate restraint system use during simulated drives.

Assessment of Caregiver-Targeted Interventions for Use of Motor Vehicle Passenger Safety Systems for Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Caregiver-targeted interventions to improve the use of child restraint systems (CRS) in motor vehicles are common and heterogeneous in their implementation. The effectiveness of these interventions is unknown.

Objectives: To quantify the effects of caregiver-targeted interventions using meta-analytic methods, assess the quality of published studies, and assess for publication bias.

Effect of Primary Care Parent-Targeted Interventions on Parent-Adolescent Communication About Sexual Behavior and Alcohol Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Adolescent well care visits provide opportunities for clinicians to facilitate parent-adolescent communication (PAC) to reduce pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and alcohol-related harm among adolescents.

Objective: To test the effect of brief parent-targeted interventions delivered in primary care settings on PAC about sexual and alcohol use behaviors.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized clinical trial conducted at a primary care pediatric practice from January 4, 2016, to April 10, 2017.

Characterizing the Learning-to-Drive Period for Teens with Attention Deficits.

Objective: Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death among teenagers, accounting for approximately 1 in 3 deaths for this age group. A number of factors increase crash risk for teen drivers, including vulnerability to distraction, poor judgment, propensity to engage in risky driving behaviors, and inexperience. These factors may be of particular concern and exacerbated among teens learning to drive with attention deficits.

Adolescents' perspectives on distracted driving legislation.

Purpose: Distracted driving is a growing global epidemic, with adolescent drivers reporting frequent engagement in distracted driving behaviors. Public health initiatives and legislative efforts designed to decrease the prevalence of these unwanted driving behaviors have demonstrated small, but significant reductions in crash risk. Non-compliance is a known problem among drivers of all ages, but may be especially problematic for novice, adolescent drivers.

Learning to drive: A reconceptualization.

Drivers' population-level crash rates incrementally decrease following licensure, which has led to the implicit assumption that an individual driver's crash risk also decreases incrementally after licensure as they accrue experience. However, in the aggregate data an incremental decrease in crash rate can reflect both incremental reductions in crash risk within individuals and an incremental increase in the proportion of drivers who have experienced an abrupt decrease in crash risk. Therefore, while it is true to say that the population of drivers' crash risk reduces in the months following licensure, it is not necessarily true to say that a driver's crash risk reduces in the months following licensure; that is, it cannot be assumed that individual-level changes in crash risk mirror the population-level changes in crash rates.

Talking with teens about traffic safety: Initial feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a parent-targeted intervention for primary care settings.

Introduction: The aims of the current pilot study were to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the Talking with Teens about Traffic Safety Program. The program consists of a clinic-based health coaching session with parents of adolescents at their annual well-child visit to promote parent-teen communication about teen driver safety including: a Parent Handbook that is designed to serve as a primer on teen driver safety and facilitate parent-teen communication on a variety of teen driver topics; an interactive practice driving toolset; and an endorsement of the materials by the primary care provider.

Method: Fifty-four parent-teen dyads (n = 108 total) were recruited from a primary care practice.

School safe driving climate: Theoretical and practical considerations for promoting teen driver safety in school settings.

Objective: The aims of this study were to extend the current literature on school climate that is focused on understanding how teacher, administrator, and student perceptions about driving-focused aspects of the social, educational, and institutional climate of schools can affect students' achievement, behavior, and adjustment toward the development of the concept of a school safe driving climate (SSDC) and initiate the development of tools and processes for assessing SSDC.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to develop an initial version of a survey-based measure of SSDC that involved self-report surveys (students) and in-depth interviews (teachers). Exploratory factor analytic procedures identified SSDC constructs and a regression framework was used to examine associations among SSDC constructs and self-reported driving behaviors.

Adolescents Spending Time Alone With Pediatricians During Routine Visits: Perspectives of Parents in a Primary Care Clinic.

Purpose: To increase understanding of parental perspectives on time alone and of factors that influence adolescent communication with physicians in a pediatric clinic.

Methods: The sample consisted of 91 parents of adolescents aged 14-17 years who attended a well child visit at one primary care pediatric practice and completed a 2-week follow-up phone call as part of a larger study on adolescent health and communication. Parents reported whether their child met alone with the pediatrician, rated the importance of him or her having time alone with the physician, and responded to open-ended questions regarding barriers and facilitators of adolescent-physician communication.

Pain, Pain Catastrophizing, and Individual Differences in Executive Function in Adolescence.

Many adolescents will experience pain at some point in their development that can lead to poor quality of life. The largest risk factor for pain is tendencies to magnify and ruminate on pain, known as pain catastrophizing. One mechanism of catastrophizing may be difficulties with executive function, or the ability to cognitively control information.

Can Adolescent Drivers' Motor Vehicle Crash Risk Be Reduced by Pre-Licensure Intervention?

Purpose: Although motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents, there is a scarcity of research addressing adolescents' lack of pre-licensure practical driving experience, which is theorized to increase their post-licensure crash risk.

Methods: Utilizing police-reported crashes and survey data from a randomized and quasi-randomized trial (n = 458 adolescents, 16 or 17 years of age at enrollment), the impact of a parent-directed supervised practice driving intervention and a comprehensive on-road driving assessment (ODA) with feedback was evaluated on adolescent drivers' motor vehicle crashes involvement.

Results: Compared with the control condition, a nonsignificant 20% relative reduction in risk was observed for the parent-directed intervention: adjusted hazard ratio  = .

Adolescent and adult drivers' mobile phone use while driving with different interlocutors.

Purpose: We examined the frequency of adolescents' and their parents' mobile phone use while driving (MPUWD) in the context of their peer and parent-child interlocutors (i.e., communication partners), considering individual differences in perceived risk and symptoms of technology addiction.

Parental influence on driver licensure in adolescence: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Newly licensed adolescent drivers have skill deficits that increase risk for motor vehicle crashes. Development of programs targeted to prelicensed adolescents has been hindered by concerns about encouraging overconfidence and early licensure. The study had 2 primary objectives: (a) determine whether an Internet-based intervention designed to improve parent-supervised practice (TeenDrivingPlan [TDP]) influenced adolescents' time to licensure and parents' perceptions of adolescents' driving skill, expertise, and safety and (b) evaluate the association of these perceptions and practice diversity (number of different environments where practiced occurred) with time to licensure.

Racing with friends: Resistance to peer influence, gist and specific risk beliefs.

Purpose: Studies assessing young drivers' risk appraisals with their driving behavior have shown both positive and inverse associations, possibly due to differences in survey items that cue gist appraisals about risk (i.e., beliefs that are focused on meaning) or specific appraisals (i.

Effectiveness of Parent-Focused Interventions to Increase Teen Driver Safety: A Critical Review.

Purpose: We critically reviewed recent parent-directed teen driving interventions to summarize their success in meeting stated goals; identify promising intervention components and knowledge gaps; aid in the selection, adaptation, and dissemination of effective interventions; and guide future research efforts.

Methods: We focused on interventions that included a direct parent component, explicitly stated outcomes related to the teen and/or their parents, were evaluated for parent or teen outcomes, targeted drivers younger than the age of 21 years, and had at least one evaluation study published since 1990 and in English. We conducted a comprehensive systematic search of 26 online databases between November 2013 and January 2014 and identified 34 articles representing 18 interventions.