The psychological functions of risky driving in adolescence: the adolescents’ point of view

Abstract Several studies have shown that risky driving is especially prevalent among young drivers. Developmental psychology research has stressed the need to investigate risky driving in adolescence in the more general context of adolescent risk behaviors (Jessor, 1987). These behaviors are viewed as goal-directed actions fulfilling psychological functions related to specific developmental tasks. The study of psychological functions is crucial to understanding why adolescents are involved in risk behaviors (Silbereisen & Todt, 1994). Psychological functions have been generally studied indirectly by analyzing the relationships between implications in risk behaviors, individual and contextual aspects. The main functions of risky driving and other risk behaviors have been recently identified in the Italian context by Bonino, Cattelino & Ciairano, 2005. However there is very little direct research of the psychological functions by interviewing adolescents with qualitative methods. This study explores how adolescents perceive the psychological functions of risky driving, using focus group interviews. Focus groups were divided by age and types of high school; the sample was composed of fifty-six adolescent drivers, male and female, aged 15 to 19 living in the North-West of Italy. Based on tape recordings, the interviews were transcribed and analyzed with content analysis. The categories identified represent the psychological functions of risky driving and were defined with reference to the theoretical model proposed by Bonino et al. (2005). Cohen’s kappa coefficient was used to measure agreement between two independent coders. Sentences referring to functions were classified in ten categories. The more frequently mentioned functions were self affirmation, experimentation and perception of control, peer emulation and surpassing peers. The other categories were sensation seeking, identification with peers, adulthood, coping strategies and escape, sharing of actions and emotions, pleasure and fun and instrumental uses. Functions mentioned by adolescents and functions investigated indirectly in previous studies (Bonino et al., 2005) largely overlapped. However, some differences were found. In particular, the transgressive function stressed by literature was not mentioned by adolescents. This result is likely to be related to the high social acceptance of traffic violations in Italy. Implications for prevention programs and future research are also discussed.