Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behaviors among
Current Junior and Senior Students in High Schools in Illinois*
by
Dale O. Ritzel, Dan Shannon, Dennis Leitner, George
Vineyard,
Donna Bernert, Jennifer Kampmeier, Keith White
Southern Illinois University
*Project Funded by the
Illinois Secretary of State
and
Drinking and Driving
Attitudes and Behaviors among Current Junior and Senior High School Students in
Illinois
INTRODUCTION
Nationally, drunk driving is the leading cause of
death among young Americans. According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), traffic crashes
are the greatest single cause of death for every age from five (5) through
twenty-seven (27), with almost half of these crashes being alcohol
related. Furthermore, NHTSA reports
that with the expanding population, and if the fatality rates remain constant,
462 additional young people will die each year in motor vehicle crashes. Thus, the number of alcohol-related
fatalities will increase as well. Also,
there have been an increasing number of incidents nationwide where a teen/young
adult has drunk excessively, or binged, and then died. In national surveys, about a third of high
school seniors and 42% of college students reported at least one occasion of
binge drinking (the consumption of five or more drinks in a row on at least one
occasion) with the previous two weeks.
Recent studies indicate graduates pursuing post secondary education is
also on the rise thus increasing the target population for
anti-drinking/driving awareness efforts.
Although current programs are in effect which target the high school age
group, there is a need to identify the exact behaviors and attitudes of
students seeking higher education in order to implement programs, which more
directly target these problem areas.
PROJECT
OBJECTIVES
1. To identify drinking and driving attitudes
and behaviors among current junior (11th grade) and senior (12th
grade) high school students in both public and private schools in Illinois.
2. To make recommendations to SOS about
possible media/print materials that they should develop for post secondary
(college and university) students in the state of Illinois.
3. To develop and print media relating to
alcohol and driving for post secondary students in the state of Illinois.
METHODS
Subject Selection and
Data Gathering Process
The high school students who participated in the
survey of Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behaviors among Current Junior and
Senior High School Students in Illinois was selected through a random process
based upon the school listing obtained from the Illinois State Board of
Education. The following steps will be
followed:
1. SIUC project staff first divided the
schools listed by the Illinois State Board of Education
into the ten regions served by the Illinois High School and College Driver
Education Association (IHSCDEA).
2. Four schools were randomly selected
from each region to serve as a potential site for administering questionnaires
to students who were juniors and seniors.
3. Project staff secured permission to
administer surveys to students in two randomly selected public schools per
region. Project staff randomly selected
five private schools to complete the sample.
4. SIUC project staff mailed the surveys
to a selected staff person in the randomly selected schools from which
permission has been obtained. The
school staff person administered the surveys to a selected group of juniors and
seniors. The goal was to survey between 30-40 students per selected
school. The data obtained from high
school students began on 1 April and ended on 15 May 2000.
We had hoped to generate 400-500 surveys completed by
high school students from about 25 schools.
All ten regions of the state was represented in the survey process. The schools sampled represented the diversity of students in
the State of Illinois, including gender, racial mix, urban/rural, and
large/small. The four schools in each
region from which two will be selected are listed below:
Region
1 Chicago Bogan, Chicago Lane
Tech, Chicago Curie, and Chicago Mather
Region
2 Maine East, Proviso West,
Zion-Benton, and New Trier
Region
3 Lincoln-Way, Thornridge, Lake
Park, and Andrew
Region 4 Eastland,
Naperville Central, St. Charles, and Central District 301 (Burlington)
Region
5 Macomb, Rockridge, Quincy, and
Beardstown
Region
6 Springfield High, Peoria H.S.,
Washington, and Mason City
Region
7 Urbana, Tolono Unity,
Bismark-Henning, and Danville
Region
8 Neoga, Robinson, Olney, and
Effingham
Region
9 Cahokia, Valmeyer, Belleville
East, and Highland
Region
10 Murphysboro, Edwards County, Mt.
Vernon, and Sparta
The private schools from
which five will be selected are listed below:
Belleville
Althoff
Bloomington
Central Catholic
Breese
Mater Dei
Chicago
Hales Franciscan
Chicago
Gordon Tech
Effingham
St. Anthony
Normal,
University High School
Peoria
Notre Dame
Providence
(New Lenox)
Waterloo
Gibault
For reasons of protecting the identity of those schools
who actually participated and had students complete surveys, we will not
indicate any of the 27 schools who were involved in the study.
The Sample Size and its
Representativeness
The size of the sample and its representativeness are
two of the most important factors in any study trying to infer from the
characteristics of a sample to the characteristics of a population. In this study, we were trying to infer statistics
about drinking, driving, etc. of at least 400 students to all students in the
State of Illinois. Random sampling was
the best way to ensure a representative sample. A reasonably large sample size provides confidence in the
interpretations because the sampling error (the extent to which statistical
results, such as means and standard deviations, vary from sample to sample)
decreases as the sample size increases.
Survey Development
The development of the survey instruments that were
completed by students required several steps.
The first step will involve a review of existing survey instruments
which deal with the six (6) issues in this study, namely:
1. Binge
drinking
2. Access to
alcohol
3. Drinking
and driving
4. Being a
passenger of a drinking driver
5.
Availability of fake ID=s
6. Location(s)
of drinking event (s)
The
second step involved the development of an closed-ended questionnaire. In order to develop our own survey we
thoroughly reviewed two of the most used youth and college age student surveys.
The 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was developed by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Until this decade, little was known about the prevalence of
behaviors practiced by young people that put their health at risk. The Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) now provides such information.
Developed by CDC in collaboration with federal, state, and private‑sector
partners, this voluntary system includes a national survey and surveys
conducted by state and local education agencies. The YRBSS provides vital
information on risk behaviors among young people to more effectively target and
improve health programs. Two sections
of the YRBSS were reviewed for use:
Alcohol and other drug use.
Behaviors that may result in intentional injuries
(violence and suicide) and unintentional injuries (motor vehicle crashes).
The CORE survey of alcohol and drug use by students at
colleges and universities was also reviewed for potential or partial use. The CORE survey was developed by the Student
Health Programs at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and has been
extensively used for the past 12 years throughout the United States. Today, over 800 colleges and universities
use this instrument in their assessment of alcohol and drug use by their
students.
After this assessment, a draft questionnaire was
developed and shared with the Illinois Secretary of State (SOS) staff for
comments. The comments were used to
further refine the student questionnaires.
After receiving input from the SOS, the survey
instrument was pilot tested. The pilot
testing of the student survey was conducted with a class of junior and senior level students attending a
local High School. No revisions were
made to the instruments as a result of the pilot test. The final surveys were then printed.
Data
Collection
In order to survey students, SIUC staff divided the schools into the ten regions defined by the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association. SIUC staff randomly selected four schools in each region from which at least two schools were surveyed. The students from the selected schools were chosen by class (usually a physical education class, study hall, or health class) by the contact person (principal, department chair, driver education teacher, etc.). Through this contact person, the SIUC staff sent the surveys explaining the purpose of the study and distributing a letter which further explains the survey purpose and procedures. One week before the survey was administered, a copy of parental approval letter was given to each student (a copy of the letter is enclosed). Students were asked to bring back a parent signed copy of the letter if their parents agreed to let the student participate in the survey. On the designated date, a local teacher or administrator distributed the survey, pencils, and participation letter, while further explaining how to answer the questionnaire (a copy of the instructions to the facilitator is enclosed). All students were asked, not told, to participate in the study. Surveys were administered in schools representing all ten IHSCDEA regions of the State. A copy of the student survey and letters are enclosed.
RESULTS
The sample consisted of 27 schools located through all
ten regions of Illinois, including 5 private/parochial schools. One thousand surveys were mailed to the
schools, an average of 38 surveys per school, with 634 returned and analyzed,
thus giving a return rate of 63%. The
sample consisted of juniors (40%) and seniors (60%), with males (42%) and females (58%). Twelve percent of the students were 16 years of age or less, 41%
were seventeen years old and 47% were 18 years or older.
The vast majority (83%) of the sample was White. Blacks accounted for 7%, Hispanic (6%) with
American Indian, Asian and Pacific Islander and others accounting for the
remaining 4% of those sampled. More
than 90% of the students said they planned on attending college. The grade point averages of the sampled
students ranged from A (23%) B students (50%), C students (27%). The amount of time students worked at
outside jobs varied with the plurality (46%) working less than or equal to 20
hours a week and 30% working more than
20 hours a week. About 24% of the
students did not work at all.
The majority (53%) of the students sampled did not
participate in binge drinking. Less
than 73% believed that the average high school student drinks once a week or
less, and less than 86% believed the average high school student is a passenger
with somebody who had been drinking once a week or less. They had a perception that college students
drink much more frequently. Over 72%
believed that college students drink 3 times a week or more, and were
passengers with somebody that had been drinking 3 times or more a week
(38%).
Almost 49% of these high school students reported that
the source of information about the drinking behaviors of college students was
through a friend. Their perception
about how their peers viewed drinking varied with the level or the amount of
drinking: 53% not caring if they had 1 or 2 drinks or but 43% would not care if
they binge drank once. However, when
asked about binge drinking on a daily basis, they felt that their peers would
disapprove or strongly disapprove 82% of the time. Slightly over 72% also felt that consuming two or fewer drinks
contained a slight or no risk, but over 78% felt that binge drinking even once
was of moderate or great risk.
Almost 78% of the students reported having their first
before the age of 16. Average number
of drinks per week of the sample was 4 with the median being 1. In other words, half the sample consumed one
drink or less per week. During the
past 30 days 60% said they had drank two or fewer days, with 0 days accounting
for the largest percentage, 36%.
Locations for drinking showed about equal spread
across three of the choices, at home (52%), secret location (46%) and in a car
(40%). Private party was the preferred
location to drink of all the selections (73%), and at school being the least
likely location (8%).
Almost 60% of the students reported never drinking and
driving over the past year and 40% were
never passengers with someone who had been drinking over the past year. This trend remained stable when the
students were asked about the past thirty days, where 67% said that had not
been driving after drinking and 52% said they were not passengers with someone
who had been drinking.
About being cited for DUI, illegal transportation, or
zero tolerance over 93% said that they had never been ticketed. The majority students (92%) said that they
did not possess a fake ID, nor have they used a fake ID (90%) but they did know
someone with a fake ID (68%).
Approximately 44% of students know how to get a fake ID but the majority
of students said they could get one through a friend (64%). Almost 66%
of the students reported that it is somewhat or very easy to obtain a
fake ID.
Analysis was conducted using question
number 8, the average number of drinks per week, as the dependent
variable. It should be noted that to
remove the effect of extreme outliers,
students who reported drinking more than 30 drinks per week were removed
from the sample. Using that criterion
3% of the sample was dropped from all subsequent analysis. Differences were looked for by examining
question number 8 versus all the demographic variables (questions 1 B 7).
Seniors had a greater average drinks per week than
Juniors (p<.001) . Males drink a greater number of drinks per week than
females (p<.0001). Students 18 years
or older drank more than the other age categories (p<.001). Students who had an A average in school
drank less than B or C students (p<.001).
These results paint the profile of the problem drinking student as a
male senior who is 18 years old or older and has less than an A average in
school.