1. Maryam Merrikhpour Birsen Donmez
Social Norms and Teenage Driver Distractions
Maryam Merrikhpour
Birsen Donmez

2. Motivation
Driver distraction is a significant contributing factor in teenage driver crashes (Ferguson, 2003; Shope et al., 2008; Williams, 2003).
20% of all crashes involving year old drivers (Curry, Hafetz, Kallan, Winston, & Durbin, 2011)
10% of fatal crashes among year old drivers in the U.S. (NHTSA, 2016) 2

3. Background Social norms
Growing interest in using motivational techniques to change behaviour
Providing information on social norms as one of the most notable techniques
Social norms
Descriptive norms
Injunctive norms 3 3

4. Theory of Social Norms (Berkowitz & Perkins, 1987; Berkowitz, 2004)
People have strong preferences to behave similarly to those around them.
Individuals misperceive social norms.
Misperceptions cause individuals to change their behaviour.
Revealing actual norms can reduce the occurrence of problematic behaviours. 4 4

5. Objectives
Investigate the existence of misperceived social norms among teens
Examine the correlations between social norms (parents and peers) and teens’ distraction 5 5

6. Hypotheses Teens’ overestimation of social norms
Positive correlations between social norms and teens’ distraction
Larger correlations with:
Perceived norms compared to actual norms
More proximal, relevant referents may have stronger influence compared to more distal referents (Social Comparison Theory, Festinger, 1954; Social Impact Theory, Latane, 1981).
Peers’ norms compared to parents’ norms
Same-gender referents’ compared to opposite-gender referents’ norms 6 6

7. Participants Recruitment So far 54 teen-parent dyads
Male
Female
Total
Teen 10 11 21 12 33 22 32 54
Recruitment
17 to 19 year old teens
Have a G2 or G driver’s license
Primary caregiver should also participate 7

8. Questionnaire Originally 16 distractions were selected.
11 distractions were included in analysis.
Talking on a hand-held cell phone
Talking on the phone using a hands-free device
Reading a text message on a hand-held device
Responding to a text message on a hand-held device
Chatting with passengers if there are any … 8

9. Questionnaire Distraction engagement frequency
Never=1, Rarely=2, Sometimes=3, Often=4, Very often=5, Don’t/doesn’t use the technology
Distraction engagement frequency
“On average how often you think you have engaged in each of the following tasks over the last year while driving?”
Perceived descriptive norms
“On average how often you think your mother, father, and friends your age have engaged in each of the following tasks over the last year while driving?” 9

10. Questionnaire
Strongly disapprove=1, Disapprove=2, Neutral=3, Approve=4, Strongly approve=5
Perceived injunctive norms
“How much your mother, father, and friends your age approve or disapprove if you engage in each of the following tasks while driving?
Parents’ approval of distraction engagement
“How much would you approve or disapprove if your teen did each of the following tasks while driving?” 10

11. Results Teens may be overestimating their parents’ descriptive norms.
Teens’ perceived distraction
Mean(SD)
Self-reported distraction
P value
Mothers
2.03 (.66)
1.85 (.65)
.002
Fathers
2.40 (.66)
2.11 (.63)
.03 11

12. Teens may be overestimating their parents’ injunctive norms.
Teens’ perceived approval
Mean(SD)
Self-reported approval
P value
Mothers
2.17 (.49)
1.79 (.51)
<.001
Fathers
2.33 (.57)
1.89 (.61)
.008 12

13. Parents may be underestimating their teen’s distraction engagement.
Teens’ self-reported distraction
Mean(SD)
Parents’ perceived distraction
P value
2.20 (.69)
1.92 (.62)
<.001 13

14. Pearson correlations – descriptive norms
* p< .05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001 14

15. Pearson correlations – descriptive norms
* p< .05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001 15

16. Pearson correlations – injunctive norms
* p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001 16

17. Pearson correlations – injunctive norms
* p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001 17

18. Conclusions
Teens may overestimate their parents’ distraction engagement and approval of distraction.
Parents may underestimate their teens’ distraction engagement.
Teens’ perceived descriptive and injunctive norms for both parents and peers were highly positively correlated with teens’ self-reported distraction engagement. 18

19. Conclusions Larger correlation was observed for:
Same-gender parents compared to opposite gender.
Perceived norms compared to actual norms 19

20. Acknowledgments 20