Excelling in multitasking and enjoying the distraction: Predicting intentions to send or read text messages while driving

Abstract

Guided by the theory of planned behavior and attitude functional theory, this investigation examined the factors that predicted one's intentions to read or send text messages while driving. Based on a survey of 555 undergraduate students in the United States, results showed that their attitudes toward texting while driving were predicted by utilitarian (e.g., safety/risk and entertainment) and self-esteem maintenance motivations, but not by value-expressive motivations. Furthermore, the present research showed that participants' self-efficacy in driving well while texting, but not their efficacy in refraining from texting while driving, predicted attitudes toward texting while driving. Attitudes and both types of self-efficacy, in turn, predicted intentions to text while driving. Neither injunctive norms nor descriptive norms predicted participants' intentions to text while driving. At the theoretical level, this research indicates that the integration of attitudinal motivations (i.e., functions) and the theory of planned behavior can help understand one's attitudes and intentions to engage in a risky health behavior.