NCJ Number
151370
Journal
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (October 1993) Pages: 65-72
Date Published
1993
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Teenaged male drunk driving offenders were studied with respect to the relationships among personality characteristics, risky driving, and use of alcohol and other drugs.
Abstract
Court data on 200 males ages 16-19 were gathered from a midwestern community. The participants were selected at random from offenders referred for presentence investigations after convictions for driving while intoxicated. The offenders completed several instruments, including the California Psychological Inventory, Andrew Alcoholism Scale, Alcohol Use Inventory, an intelligence test, and a modified version of the Donovan Research Questionnaire. Results generally supported the relationship between driving risk and certain personality characteristics and driving-related attitudes found in previous studies of adult males and young, accident-prone drivers. However, the results also indicated that driving risk among teenage drunk driving offenders is also associated with alcohol abuse. The 35 percent of the youths who had antisocial personalities seemed to be very high-risk persons who are likely to cause great harm to society. Tables and 59 references