White Teens More Likely to Engage in Risky Driving Behavior

Young white adults are more likely to engage in driving after consuming alcohol compared to their peers from other ethnic groups, a new study reveals.

Lead author Chris Delcher and colleagues initiated to find out the factors that lead to alcohol-related crashes among the young generation. They found driving under the influence (DUI) playing a major role in this occurrence.

"The goal of this research is to find factors that can help identify kids who are likely to drive under the influence so we can use that information to improve national DUI prevention efforts," Delcher said in a news release.

They reached the conclusion after looking at more than 10,200 teenagers. All the participants, aged either 15 or 16, were originally part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in 1994. Participants self-reported their DUI behavior at the age of 21.

Researchers found white youngsters at double the risk of driving after drinking alcohol than their Black, Hispanic or Asian peers.

"We found that DUI risk was highest for Whites, followed by Hispanics, Asians and then Blacks," Delcher added.

Apart from that, researchers also identified some risk factors that predict whether a teen will engage in DUI or not. According to them, teens who involve in high-risk behaviors like pot smoking, binge drinking or driving someone else's car without permission more likely to engage in DUI.

Easy access to alcohol at home was another risk factor that encouraged the young adults to engage in such risky behaviors, the researchers underlined.

The results of the study have been published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. 

According to National Institute of Health, alcohol claims a significant number of young lives (37 percent of young drivers, aged between 16 and 20) in the United States.