Relationship of parent driving records to the driving records of their children

Many studies have shown that young driver crash rates can be influenced by such factors as lifestyle characteristics and licensing systems. However, t he influence of parents on their teenage children's crash and violation rat es has not received much attention. The present study used data from the No rth Carolina driver history file to match the crash and violation records o f young drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 with those of their parents. Results indicate that children's driving records in the first few years of licensure are related to the driving records of their parents. Children who se parents had three or more crashes on their record were 22% more likely t o have had at least one crash compared with children whose parents had no c rashes. Likewise, children whose parents had three or more violations were 38% more likely to have had a violation compared with children whose parent s had none. Logistic regression models showed that these relationships held when controlling for household type and child gender. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.