title: Who's not driving among U.S. high school seniors: A closer look at race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status.
abstract: We examined associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status in a nationally representative sample of >26,000 U.S. high school seniors.
  
  
  
  Weighted data from the 2012 and 2013 Monitoring the Future surveys were combined and analyzed. We imputed missing values using fully conditional specification multiple imputation methods. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was conducted to explore associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and driving status, while accounting for selected student behaviors and location. Lastly, odds ratios were converted to prevalence ratios.
  
  
  
  23% of high school seniors did not drive during an average week; 14% of white students were nondrivers compared to 40% of black students. Multivariate analysis revealed that minority students were 1.8 to 2.5 times more likely to be nondrivers than their white counterparts, and students who had no earned income were 2.8 times more likely to be nondrivers than those earning an average of ≥$36 a week. Driving status also varied considerably by student academic performance, number of parents in the household, parental education, census region, and urbanicity.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest that resources-both financial and time-influence when or whether a teen will learn to drive. Many young people from minority or lower socioeconomic families who learn to drive may be doing so after their 18th birthday and therefore would not take advantage of the safety benefits provided by graduated driver licensing. Innovative approaches may be needed to improve safety for these young novice drivers.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention , National Center for Injury Prevention and Control , Atlanta , Georgia.
authors.forename: Ruth A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Shults
authors.affiliation: b Office of Research and Global Affairs , University of Michigan School of Nursing , Ann Arbor , Michigan.
authors.forename: Tanima
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: c University of Michigan Institute for Social Research , Ann Arbor , Michigan.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Perry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Young drivers; adolescent; epidemiology; graduated licensing; motor vehicles