Young drivers’ next day drink driving: The role of social norms

Abstract

Drink driving is a leading contributor to road-related crashes and injuries. There has been less attention on driving the following morning after drinking while potentially above the legal blood alcohol concentration limit (next day drink driving; ND-DD). Notably, factors associated with ND-DD remain unclear. As such, the current study explored demographic factors that have been previously associated with drink driving (e.g., gender, residential location), as well as the role of social norms (as measured through the Social Norm Theory). The current study aimed to (a) examine the relationship between younger drivers’ perceptions of others’ (i.e., friends and family) engagement in (descriptive norms), and approval of (injunctive norms), ND-DD on their engagement in the behaviour, and (b) examine whether such factors (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) explain the variance above demographic factors and harmful drinking behaviour. In total, 295 young drivers (Mage = 20.74 years; ranging 18–25 years) completed an online survey. Logistic regressions were employed to address the study aims. ND-DD was predicted by drinking at harmful levels, being a male, living in metropolitan locations, approving of ND-DD, and descriptive norms (related to friends only). It was also identified that engagement in ND-DD was more common compared to drink driving. This study presented an early attempt to explore the occurrence of ND-DD among younger drivers and potential predictors of the behaviour. Further research is needed to explore younger drivers’ understanding of, and experiences with ND-DD, which could lead to the development of countermeasures to reduce this behaviour.