Acceptance of and engagement in risky driving behaviors by teenagers

Adolescence, Winter, 2004 by Sheila Sarkar, Marie Andreas

Concerns and Limitations

Self-report surveys allow researchers to examine the thinking and perceptions of a sample population, as well as previous behaviors. However, whenever dealing with self-reports it is important to consider that participants may not provide totally honest responses. It was hoped that allowing participants the option of not completing the survey as well as assuring anonymity and confidentiality would help elicit factual data.

Another concern is that the worst traffic offenders could not be included in this sample. There are limits to the types of violations for which the courts allow school attendance to negate recording of the offense. This could account for the finding in this study that females received more tickets for speeding than did males, which contradicts previous findings. The reason may be that the speeding by males was too far over the limit to allow them to attend the school. Future studies should examine both those teens who have not received a violation, as well as those whose violations were so serious as to disallow attendance at traffic school.