title: Language, income, education, and alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes.
abstract: This paper investigates the role of race/ethnicity, language skills (a proxy for acculturation among Hispanics in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas), income, and education level on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. Using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), we confirmed previous state-based studies showing that high income and education levels have a protective influence on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. We also confirmed that language proficiency/acculturation tends to increase the vulnerability of Hispanic women to alcohol-related fatalities. Differences in alcohol-related fatality rates across Hispanic subgroups are observed. Future reductions in alcohol-related traffic fatalities may require prevention policies that take into account existent variations in acculturation, income, and education among racial/ethnic groups and subgroups.
authors.affiliation: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 11710 Beltsville Drive, Ste 300, Calverton, MD, 20725-3102, USA. Romano@pire.org
authors.forename: Eduardo O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.forename: A Scott
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Tippetts
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Voas
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors