Concealed Texting While Driving: What Are Young People’s Beliefs about This Risky Behavior?

Making a conscious effort to hide the fact that one is texting while driving (i.e., concealed texting) is a deliberate and risky behavior involving attention diverted from the road. As the most frequent users of text messaging services and mobile phones while driving, young people appear at heightened crash risk from engaging in this behavior. First, several small focus group discussions (N = 12) were carried out to elicit the underlying salient beliefs regarding this behavior, in accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Findings from these discussions, in conjunction with available prior evidence regarding general mobile phone use while driving, then informed questionnaire items that assessed young peoples’ beliefs regarding this behavior, as well as intention to engage in this behavior in the next week. In the questionnaire phase of the study, participants (N = 171) were aged 17–25 years, owned a mobile phone, and held a current driver’s license. Results showed that there were significant differences between low and high intenders (to engage in concealed texting while driving) on the behavioral, normative, and control beliefs investigated. Specifically, high intenders were more likely to believe that concealed texting while driving would result in sharing information with others, using time effectively, and were less likely to think that free-flowing traffic would prevent their engagement in this behavior. By targeting these beliefs, these findings may potentially inform the development of advertising and other public intervention strategies, aimed at ensuring young drivers reconsider their engagement in this risky behavior.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2013.12.017
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753514000022
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09257535
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Gauld, Cassandra S
  • Lewis, Ioni
  • White, Katherine M
• Publication Date: 2014-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 63-69
• Serial:
  • Safety Science
  • Volume: 65
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0925-7535
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09257535

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Age groups; Attention lapses; Automobile drivers; Behavior; Distraction; High risk drivers; Highway safety; Mobile telephones; Psychological aspects; Text messaging
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01528786
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 26 2014 9:19AM