Parent and Teen Agreement on Driving Expectations Prior to Teen Licensure

Objectives: To examine pre-licensure agreement on driving expectations and predictors of teen driving expectations among parent-teen dyads. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 163 parent-teen dyads. Descriptive statistics, weighted Kappa coefficients, and linear regression were used to examine expectations about post-licensure teen driving. Results: Teens reported high pre-licensure unsupervised driving (N = 79, 48.5%) and regular access to a car (N = 130, 81.8%). Parents and teens had low agreement on teen driving expectations (eg, after dark, k(w) = 0.23). Each time teens currently drove to/from school, their expectation of driving in risky conditions post-licensure increased (beta = 0.21, p = .02). Conclusions: Pre-licensure improvement of parent-teen agreement on driving expectations are needed to have the greatest impact on preventing teens from driving in high risk conditions.