This study evaluated the effectiveness of using motivational interviewing (MI) to reduce subsequent alcohol and marijuana‐related driving events among incarcerated adolescents.
Adolescents were randomly assigned to receive MI or Relaxation Training. Follow‐up assessment showed that compared to RT, adolescents who received MI had lower rates of drinking and driving, as well as being a passenger in a car with someone who had been drinking. Effects were moderated by levels of depression. At low levels of depression, MI evidenced lower rates of these behaviors; at high levels of depression, effects for MI and RT were equivalent. Similar patterns were found for marijuana‐related risky driving, but effects were nonsignificant. (publisher abstract modified)