Abstract
Alcohol-impaired driving persists as a major cause of traffic fatalities and injuries among young drivers. This meta-analysis examined whether brief alcohol interventions were effective in reducing driving after drinking among adolescents and young adults. Our systematic search identified 12 experimental/quasi-experimental evaluations (16 intervention groups) that measured driving while intoxicated and related consequences and provided data for effect size calculation (N = 5,664; M age =17 years; 57% male). The studies were published between 1991 and 2011. Three-level random-effects meta-analyses using a structural equation modeling approach were used to summarize the effects of the interventions. Compared with controls, participants in brief alcohol interventions reported reduced drinking and driving and related consequences (ḡ = 0.15, 95% CI [0.08, 0.21]). Supplemental analyses indicated that reductions in driving while intoxicated were positively associated with the reduced post-intervention heavy use of alcohol. These findings were not attenuated by study design or implementation factors. Brief alcohol interventions under 5 hours of contact may constitute a promising preventive approach targeting drinking and driving among adolescents and young adults. Reducing heavy episodic alcohol consumption appeared to be a major factor in reducing drunk-driving instances. Interpretation of the findings must be made with caution, however, given the possibility of publication bias and the small observed effect size. Future research should focus on the exact mechanisms of behavior change leading to beneficial outcomes of brief alcohol interventions and the potential effectiveness of combined brief interventions and other preventive approaches.
Highlights
Alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious public health problem despite extensive prevention and intervention efforts aiming to reduce drunk driving
We explore whether effects on Driving while intoxicated (DWI) outcomes are robust after controlling for study quality characteristics and examine whether post-intervention changes in heavy episodic drinking explain any effects on DWI outcomes
One study [37,38] was excluded from the meta-analysis because we were unable to estimate an effect size based on the information included in study reports
Summary
Alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious public health problem despite extensive prevention and intervention efforts aiming to reduce drunk driving. For instance, indicate that U.S high school students drive after drinking about 2.4 million times a month; with nearly one in ten having done so at least once in the prior month [5]. Driving while intoxicated (DWI) is a major cause of U.S traffic fatalities and injuries [7]. Those who drive after drinking tend to be involved in more serious crashes and sustain greater injury severities than those who drive sober [3]. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of mortality for U.S adolescents [8] and over 20% of drivers aged 15 to 20 involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes in 2010 were drinking prior to the crash [9]
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