Parenting style important to safe teen driving

William Atkins
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:24

Science - Health

A study performed by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that parenting style is very important in the driving style of teenagers. Specifically, teenagers that have their own car are twice as dangerous as teenagers that share a car with a parent.


[Updated (10/12/09): sponsor of study changed from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). The CDC only provided statistics to the article--author]

The September 28, 2009 ABC News article “Teens With Cars Are Twice as Dangerous,” states that “rules and supportive parenting can reduce the risk of crashes.”

The CIRP (at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) study, in collaboration with State Farm Insurance, found that teenagers with the most access to cars—those that have their own car—have increased risk of being in an accident.

In fact, teens that are in possession of their own car are twice as likely to be involved in a car crash as teenagers that share a car with a parent.

The study found that 70% of the teenagers participating in the study said they were the primary driver of a car.

The summary of research performed by the CIRP researchers was published in the September 28, 2009 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The article is entitled “Associations Between Parenting Styles and Teen Driving, Safety-Related Behaviors and Attitudes” (volume 124, number 4, October 2009, pages 1040-1051, DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-3037).

Its U.S. authors are: Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Dennis R. Durbin, J. Felipe García-España, Ewa A. Kalicka, and Flaura K. Winston.

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