14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific study, it would appear that teens who are depressed or anxious are a lot more likely to engage in dangerous, risk-taking behaviors while behind the wheel than their peers who are mentally healthy.
At the same time, the team who conducted the new investigation learned that this correlation was significantly more valid for women than for men. The study was conducted at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in Australia.
A number of 760 young drivers were involved in the study, which was led by QUT Center for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) expert Bridie Scott-Parker.
Details of the research were published in the May 17 issue of the esteemed international journal Injury Prevention. The Center is a part of the QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
All the young drivers in the study were on their provisional licenses, Scott-Parker explains. She adds that analysis of all the participants revealed that anxiety and depression were reportedly responsible for as much as 8.5 percent of all risky behaviors teens displayed behind the wheel.
Studies such as this one could be put to great use in the future, for the development of means of identifying at-risk drivers, and addressing their problems before they get behind the wheel.
This “association was greater in women than in men, with 9.5 per cent being explained by psychological distress in women compared with 6.7 per cent in men,” Scott-Parker explains.
“We already know that psychological distress, such as anxiety and depression, has been linked to risky behavior in adolescents including unprotected sex, smoking and high alcohol consumption,” she adds.
“What this study sought to do was look at whether or not psychological distress could also be linked to risky driving behaviors in young people, such as speeding, not wearing a seat belt and using a mobile phone while at the wheel,” the researcher goes on to say.
Scott-Parker believes that specific road safety countermeasures and efforts on the part of authorities could further contribute to reducing the incidence of crashes involving depressed or anxious teens.
Previous researches, she adds, have thus far failed to properly identify or quantify the connections between psychological distress ant the risky driving behavior of teens. However, the expert goes on to say, doing so is absolutely vital for road safety.
“Once identified, interventions could be tailored to target particular groups of at-risk drivers and also from a mental health perspective this may result in improved well-being for the adolescent young driver,” she concludes.