Nothing Else to Do: Situational Predictors of Driving after Drinking in Rural Areas

• In Event: Substance Use in Varying Cultures

Abstract

In the US, approximately 10,000 individuals die each year as a result of alcohol-impaired motor vehicle crashes. Among fatally injured alcohol-impaired drivers, more than 1 out of 3 are young adults. Although extant research has documented stable individual correlates of alcohol-impaired driving, proximal situational factors have received scant attention. Grounded in Osgood et al.’s (1996) adaption of routine activities theory, the current study examined the activities and situations that precipitate driving after drinking (DAD) among young adults (aged 18-25). Qualitative data were collected through a series of 8 focus group discussions conducted in 5 counties in Montana (Nparticipants=55). After transcription, activities were categorized and situational characteristics were coded inductively. The results illustrated that many socializing/leisure and sports/recreation activities encouraged DAD; however, within these categories the specific activities associated with DAD were closely tied to the rurality of the location (e.g., branding cattle was only mentioned in very rural areas). In addition, situational opportunity (e.g., having “nothing to do”) and characteristics of the peer context (e.g., being the “least drunk” peer) encouraged DAD as well as driving while drinking (i.e., “booze cruising”). These results inform prevention and intervention efforts by identifying when and where young adults are most at-risk for DAD.

Author

• Kaylin Greene, Montana State University