Bruce Simons-Morton

• EdD, MPH
• National Institutes of Health

Objective: To examine crash rates over time among 16-17-year-old drivers compared to older drivers. Methods: Data were from a random sample of 854 of the 3,500 study participants in SHRP 2, a U.S. national, naturalistic driving (instrumented vehicle) study. Crashes/10,000 miles by driver age group, 3-month period, and sex were examined within ge...

Background/Purpose: Studies suggest teens may be intentionally delaying driving licensure (DDL) to avoid mandatory Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions (e.g., passengers, nighttime driving) that are known to reduce crash risk. This may increase risky driving and injury/fatal crashes. We assessed the prevalence, disparities, and factors associate...

Purpose: Novice adolescents' crash rates are highly elevated early in licensure, despite substantial practicedriving during the learner period. The objectives of this study were to examine the variability in measures of driving risk among adolescents during the learner and early independent driving periods and evaluate how risk varies by driving e...

Objective: Risky driving behavior may contribute to the high crash risk among teenage drivers. The current naturalistic driving study assessed predictors for teenagers' kinematic risky driving (KRD) behavior and the interdependencies between them. Method: The private vehicles of 81 novice teenage drivers were equipped with data acquisition syste...

Introduction Teen drivers' over-involvement in crashes has been attributed to a variety of factors, including distracted driving. With the rapid development of in-vehicle systems and portable electronic devices, the burden associated with distracted driving is expected to increase. The current study identifies predictors of secondary task engagemen...

Introduction Naturalistic driving methods require the installation of instruments and cameras in vehicles to record driving behavior. A critical, yet unexamined issue in naturalistic driving research is the extent to which the vehicle instruments and cameras used for naturalistic methods change human behavior. We sought to describe the degree to wh...

The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and progression of practice driving during the learner license period in a sample of teenagers. During the first and last 10 h of practice driving, we examined (1) the amount, variety and complexity of conditions of practice; (2) the nature of parental instruction; and (3) errors that te...

Background: Influences on diet quality during the transition from adolescence to adulthood are understudied. Objective: This study examined association of 3 diet-quality indicators—Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI), Whole Plant Foods Density (WPF), and Empty Calories (EC; the percentage of calories from discretionary solid fat, added sugar and alcoho...

Objective: This study examined associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with adolescents’ immigration status and language spoken at home and with friends. Methods: Participants (N = 2475) were included from Wave 1 of the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative 10th-grade cohort study starting in 2009. PA...

An increasing number of countries are requiring an extended learner permit prior to independent driving. The question of when drivers begin the learner permit period, and how long they hold the permit before advancing to independent licensure has received little research attention. Licensure timing is likely to be related to “push” and “pull” facto...

The young driver problem is typified by high crash rates early in licensure that decline with experience, but are higher initially and decline more slowly for the youngest novices. Despite considerable effort, only Graduated Driver Licensing System (GDLS) policies have been shown to improve novice young driver safety outcomes. Unfortunately, GDLS p...

Addressing teen driver crashes, this study adapted an effective CheckpointsTM program for parents of teen drivers for dissemination by primary care practitioners (PCPs) and the web; distributed the PCP/web program through pediatric practices; and examined dissemination to/implementation by parents. The website, youngDRIVERparenting.org , and brief...

Objectives: Examined patterns and determinants of objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) over 4 years in US emerging adults. Methods: Waves 1 through 4 (W1 [10th grade] to W4 data of a national cohort starting in 2010 (N = 561; 16.19 ± 0.51 years) were used. MVPA was assessed annually from accelerometers; BMI calculat...

Objective: To examine changes in health behaviors among U.S. emerging adults one year after high school. Participants: The national sample of participants (n = 1927), including those attending 4-year college/university (n = 884), 2-year colleges/technical schools (n = 588), and no college (n = 455), participated in annual spring surveys 2013?2014....

The Problem. Teenage drivers are overrepresented in fatal and injury crashes on our nation's roadways. While crash databases have allowed for a basic understanding of some of the contributing factors of crashes, these databases do not allow for deeper understanding of driver behavior. And while simulators and test tracks allow driver behavior to be...

Study objectives: The relationship between sleeping and smoking in adolescent remains unclear and is likely complex. We aim to evaluate the longitudinal reciprocal associations between sleep problems, sleep duration, smoking among non-Hispanic white (NHW) and non-Hispanic black (NHB) youth. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: NEXT Gener...

Background Crashes among US novice young drivers remain too high. Addressing this problem, one effective program for parents is Checkpoints, which raises parents’ awareness of risks to their young drivers and offers ways to reduce those risks. But its most effective approach was in driver education classrooms and not widely available. A federally-f...

Background Youth’s physical activity (PA) may change across developmental periods. Although previous studies have observed a decline in levels of PA during adolescence, few studies have explored trends in PA during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood and what factors may impact the transitional change. The purpose of this study was t...

Food reward sensitivity may influence individual susceptibility to an environment replete with highly palatable foods of minimal nutritional value. These foods contain combinations of added sugar, fat, and/or salt that may enhance their motivational salience. This study examined associations of food reward sensitivity with eating behaviors in the N...

Food reward sensitivity may influence susceptibility to overeating in a permissive food environment, contributing to unintended weight gain and intentional weight loss behavior. This study examined associations of food reward sensitivity, assessed by the Power of Food Scale (PFS), with weight outcomes and dieting in a nationally representative coho...

Introduction: Driving while impaired (DWI) increases the risk of a motor vehicle crash by impairing performance. Few studies have examined the prevalence and predictors of marijuana, alcohol, and drug-specific DWI among emerging adults. Methods: The data from wave 3 (W3, high school seniors, 2012, N=2407) and wave 4 (W4, one year after high scho...

Background Alcohol-related blackouts are periods of amnesia that reflect the failure of the brain to record memories of what transpires while drinking. This paper examined the incidence, predictors, and behavioral correlates of blackouts among emerging adults and examined whether questions about blackouts could serve as better markers of risk for o...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine changes and predictors of changes in riding with an alcohol/drug-impaired driver (RWI) from 10th grade through the first post-high school year. Method: Transition models were used to estimate the association of four waves (W1-W4) of RWI with W4 environmental-status variables and time-varying co...

Objective: The first year after high school is a transitional year, with increased independence from parental supervision, contact with other independent youth, and exposure to new environments, all of which may influence substance use. This article reports longitudinal predictors of change in the prevalence of alcohol use and heavy episodic drink...

Objective: Use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs increases during the high school years, yet little is known about individual patterns over time, particularly patterns of contemporaneous multiple-substance use. This study examined trajectories of contemporaneous substance use and how individual and social factors differentially predi...

Diets of U.S. adolescents and adults do not meet recommendations, increasing risk of chronic disease. This study examined trajectories and predictors of eating behaviors in U.S. youth from age 16–20 years, and evaluated longitudinal associations of eating behaviors with weight outcomes. Data come from the first four waves (years) of the NEXT Genera...

Background: The presence of peer passengers increases teenage drivers' fatal crash risk. Distraction and social influence are the two main factors that have been associated with increased risk. Teen drivers' perceptions of their peer passengers on these factors could inform our understanding of the conditions under which peer passengers increase c...

Objective: This research examined the extent to which teenagers who engaged in one form of risky driving also engaged in other forms and if risky driving measures were reciprocally associated over time. Methods: The data were from waves 1, 2 and 3 (W1, W2 and W3) of the NEXT Generation study, with longitudinal assessment of a nationally represen...

This study compares whether college students or their same-age, noncollege peers are more likely to be asked about their substance use, given advice about related health risks, and encouraged to reduce or stop substance use.Associated with the top 3 causes of adolescent death (unintentional injuries, homicides, and suicides), underage drinking is a...

Introduction: Personality characteristics are associated with many risk behaviors. However, the relationship between personality traits, risky driving behavior, and crash risk is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between personality, risky driving behavior, and crashes and near-crashes, using naturalistic...

Background The objectives are to explore proportions of 4-year and community college freshmen and same-age, non-college peers who 1) saw a physician in the past year; 2) were asked and advised about substance use and other beha-vioral health risks; and 3) were asked to reduce or stop substance use and change other risky behaviors. Material and meth...

Introduction: This paper summarizes the findings on novice teenage driving outcomes (e.g., crashes and risky driving behaviors) from the Naturalistic Teenage Driving Study. Method: Survey and driving data from a data acquisition system (global positioning system, accelerometers, cameras) were collected from 42 newly licensed teenage drivers and...

A systematic review of the literature was conducted to appraise the evidence from epidemiological studies of crash risk in young drivers accompanied by passengers, compared with solo driving. Databases searched were the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, Transportation Research Information Services, and Web of Science for studies published between J...

Adolescent driving while alcohol/drug impaired (DWI) and parental monitoring knowledge may have notable interplay. However, the magnitude and direction of causality are unclear. This study examined possible reciprocal associations among adolescents between DWI and parental monitoring knowledge. The data were from waves 1, 2 and 3 (W1, W2 and W3) of...

Background: Longitudinal or time-dependent activity data are useful to characterize the circadian activity patterns and to identify physical activity differences among multiple samples. Statistical methods designed to analyze multiple activity sample data are desired, and related software is needed to perform data analysis. Methods: This paper intr...

This study examined trends in adolescent weekly alcohol use between 2002 and 2010 in 28 European and North American countries. Analyses were based on data from 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Weekly alcohol use declined in 20 of 28 countries a...

Signalized intersection management is a common measure of risky driving in simulator studies. In a recent randomized trial, investigators were interested in whether teenage males exposed to a risk-accepting passenger took more intersection risks in a driving simulator compared with those exposed to a risk-averse peer passenger. Analyses in this tri...

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of mortality among teenage drivers. The high crash rate among teenage drivers is generally attributed to lack of experience and risk taking. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of social norms on male teenage driving performance. To examine the effect of teenage passenger presence, peer no...

Purpose: Whilst instructors must meet specific qualification competencies, little is known regarding how competencies are operationalised during instruction. Of particular importance is higher-order instruction, in which key learnings specific to driving events are transferred more generally to both current and future driving. Recent research exami...

Aggressive and weapons carrying behaviors are indicative of youth violence. The theory of planned behavior is used in the current analysis to improve our understanding of violence-related behaviors. We examine the influence of perceived behavioral control (self-control and decision making) as a part of the overall framework for understanding the ri...

The dual-systems model of adolescent risk-taking postulates that risk-taking during adolescence partially results from an imbalance in the development of the executive and the socio-emotional cognitive systems. While supported by behavioral and neuroanatomical data, translational research linking the model with real-world driving or laboratory driv...

Adolescence is a period characterized by increased sensitivity to social cues, as well as increased risk-taking in the presence of peers. For example, automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents, and driving with peers increases the risk of a fatal crash. Growing evidence points to an interaction between neural systems implica...

AimsTo analyse how adolescent drunkenness and frequency of drinking were associated with adult drinking patterns and alcohol control policies. Design, Setting and ParticipantsCross-sectional survey data on 13- and 15-year-olds in 37 countries who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study in 2010 (n=144788) were linke...

Of the handful of national studies tracking trends in adolescent substance use in the United States, only the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study collects data from 6th through 10th graders. The purpose of this study was to examine trends from 1998 to 2010 (four time points) in the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use...

Many of the choices which impact in lifetime health, such as substance use, are made in adolescence. It becomes, therefore, important to know the factors associated to these behaviours in adolescence in different contexts of life. To analyze these factors, an explanatory model was developed using structural equation modeling. Data from 12.881 state...

Social influence is prominent across the lifespan, but sensitivity to influence is especially high during adolescence and is often associated with increased risk taking. Such risk taking can have dire consequences. For example, in American adolescents, traffic-related crashes are leading causes of nonfatal injury and death. Neural measures may be e...

There is a higher likelihood of crashes and fatalities when an adolescent drives with peer passengers, especially for male drivers and male passengers. Simulated driving of male adolescent drivers with male peer passengers was studied to examine passenger influences on distraction and inattention. Male adolescents drove in a high-fidelity driving s...

Secondary task engagement that distracts the driver is a contributing factor to motor vehicle crashes among adults. However, the association between eye glance duration and crash risk with novice teenage drivers has not been determined. Vehicles of 42 newly licensed teenage drivers were instrumented with cameras, accelerometers, Global Positioning...

Importance: Road traffic crashes are one of the leading causes of injury and death among teenagers worldwide. Better understanding of the individual pathways to driving risk may lead to better-targeted intervention in this vulnerable group. Objective: To examine the relationship between cortisol, a neurobiological marker of stress regulation lin...

More than half of U.S. high-school students do not meet the moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) 5 hours per week recommendation. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual dimensions (motivation and planning) mediate the relationship of social context with physical activity by integrating available measures of personal cha...

To examine the association between driving while alcohol/drug impaired (DWI) and the timing and amount of exposure to others' alcohol/drug-impaired driving (riding while impaired [RWI]) and driving licensure timing among teenage drivers. The data were from waves 1, 2, and 3 (W1, W2, and W3, respectively) of the NEXT Generation Study, with longitudi...

Objective: Teenage passengers affect teenage driving performance, possibly by social influence. To examine the effect of social norms on driving behavior, male teenagers were randomly assigned to drive in a simulator with a peer-aged confederate to whom participants were primed to attribute either risk-accepting or risk-averse social norms. It was...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which 10th-grade substance use and parenting practices predicted 11th-grade teenage driving while alcohol-/other drug-impaired (DWI) and riding with alcohol-/other drug-impaired drivers (RWI). Method: The data were from Waves 1 and 2 of the NEXT Generation study, with longitudina...

Distracted driving attributable to the performance of secondary tasks is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes both among teenagers who are novice drivers and among adults who are experienced drivers. We conducted two studies on the relationship between the performance of secondary tasks, including cell-phone use, and the risk of crashes and near-...

To examine cross-national changes in frequent adolescent cannabis use (40+ times consumed over life-time at age 15) over time and relate these trends to societal wealth, family affluence and gender. Data from three cycles (2002, 2006, 2010) of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study were used for cross-sectional and trend analyses...

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen fatalities, and a major cause of teen injuries. Evidence-based interventions to reduce crashes include primarily Graduated Driver Licensing and CheckpointsTM, a parent-directed program that encourages monitoring teens' driving using a parent-teen driving agreement (PTDA). Several studies used diff...

Background/Purpose: The majority of studies reporting novice drivers' secondary task engagement have focused on cell phone use while driving. However, other secondary tasks such as eating or reaching for an object, have also been shown to elevate novice teen drivers' crash risk. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of a range of...

Background/Purpose. Perceived risk is frequently cited as a predictor of teenage risky driving. Theoretically, people are less likely to engage in a behavior they perceive to involve potential harm, however the extent to which adolescents' perceptions of risk are associated with objective measures of risky driving has not been established. The purp...

Purpose: This study evaluates the translation of CheckpointsTM, an evidence-based parent-directed intervention that encourages parents to set limits on and monitor their novice teen’s driving, for delivery via brief intervention by pediatric practitioners (PEDs) caring for teens. The brief intervention refers parents to the website “youngdriverpare...

This study examined the associations between adolescent self‐report of aggression and adolescents' perceptions of parenting practices in a sample of African American early adolescents living in low‐income, urban communities. Sixth graders (N = 209) completed questionnaires about their aggressive behaviors and perceptions of caregivers' parenting pr...

Objectives: We examined the prevalence of impaired driving among US high school students and associations with substance use and risky driving behavior. Methods: We assessed driving while alcohol or drug impaired (DWI) and riding with alcohol- or drug-impaired drivers (RWI) in a nationally representative sample of 11th-grade US high school stude...

Novice teenage drivers have high crash rates due to inexperience; therefore, cell phone-related secondary task engagement (distracted driving) is likely to aggravate crash risk for this population. A previous study of teenage distracted driving behavior, found that 34% of 16-17-year-olds had texted, and 52% reported talking on a cell phone while dr...

Although there is evidence that teenagers are at a high risk of crashes in the early months after licensure, the driving behavior of these teenagers is not well understood. The Naturalistic Teenage Driving Study (NTDS) is the first U.S. study to document continuous driving performance of newly-licensed teenagers during their first 18 months of lice...

. In a unique longitudinal study of teen driving, risky driving behaviour and the occurrence of crashes or near crashes are measured prospectively over the first 18 months of licensure. Of scientific interest is relating the two processes and developing a predictor of crashes from previous risky driving behaviour. In this work, we propose two laten...

Studies have shown that teenage drivers are less attentive, more frequently exhibit risky driving behavior, and have a higher fatal crash risk in the presence of peers. The effects of direct peer pressure and conversation on young drivers have been examined. Little is known about the impact on driving performance of the presence of a non-interactin...

Descriptive norms are consistently found to predict adolescent alcohol use but less is known about the factors that predict descriptive norms. The objective of this study is to test if drinking with peers predicts later alcohol consumption and if this relationship is mediated by a change in the descriptive norms of peer alcohol use. Data are from a...

Background: The Checkpoints program (Checkpoints) uses a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement (PTDA) to help parents monitor teens' driving, and has shown efficacy in increasing parental restrictions on teens' driving and decreasing teens' risky driving. In previous trials, research staff administered Checkpoints. This study examined the effectiveness of...

The promotion of cardiorespiratory fitness through increased physical activity has become a national public health objective for both adults and children. Based on numerous small-scale studies it appears that children are highly fit but the population distribution is unknown due to the lack of rigorous population studies. Very little is known about...

Purpose: The current study examines the prevalence and demographic correlates of self-reported substance use and identifies subgroups of polysubstance users among a cohort of United States 10th-grade students. Methods: A nationally representative school-based cohort of United States 10th-grade students completed the NEXT Generation Health Study...

Purpose: Teenage risky driving may be due to teenagers not knowing what is risky, preferring risk, or the lack of consequences. Elevated gravitational-force (g-force) events, caused mainly by hard braking and sharp turns, provide a valid measure of risky driving and are the target of interventions using in-vehicle data recording and feedback devic...

Background: This report assessed the proportion of US 10th graders (average age, 16) who saw a physician in the past year and were asked and given advice about their drinking. We hypothesized that advice would vary by whether students were asked about drinking and their drinking, bingeing, and drunkenness frequency. Methods: A nationally represe...

Background: Many studies have reported that the earlier the age at first drink (AFDrink) the higher the later drinking levels and related problems. However, unless adolescents proceed into drunkenness, it is unclear why consuming small quantities at early age should lead to later problems. This study investigates the link between AFDrink and probl...

Preventing speed-related crashes could reduce costs and improve efficiency in the transportation industry. This research examined the psychosocial and personality predictors of observed speeding among young drivers. Survey and driving data were collected from 42 newly-licensed teenage drivers during the first 18months of licensure. Speeding (i.e.,...

Health is best understood within an ecological context. Accordingly, health promotion involves processes that foster supportive environments and healthful behavior. Thus, effective health promotion programs are typically multilevel, focusing not only on the population at risk but also on the environmental conditions that contribute so importantly t...

Many behaviors with lasting health impact are initiated in adolescence. Substance use is one such behavior. To analyse the factors involved in adolescent substance use among Portuguese and Spanish boys and girls, an explanatory model was developed using structural equations modelling. The model proposes that the impact of social contexts (family, f...

Background/Purpose. Driver inattention is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes and an increasing national concern. While adult driver distraction has been widely assessed, less is known about teenage driver distraction, despite their high crash risk. The purpose of this research was to examine crash risk due to secondary task engagement. Method...

Background/Purpose: The Checkpoints Program (Checkpoints) uses a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement (PTDA) to help parents monitor teen driving, and has shown efficacy in increasing parental restrictions on teens' driving, and decreasing teens' risky driving. Research staff administered Checkpoints in previous trials. This CDC-funded study examined the...

This study examined the co-occurrence of subtypes of substance use and bullying behaviors using latent class analysis and evaluated latent class differences in demographic characteristics, peer and parental influences. Self-reported questionnaire data were collected from a nationally representative sample (N = 7508) of 6-10th grade adolescents in t...

Most of the available methods for longitudinal data analysis are designed and validated for the situation where the number of subjects is large and the number of observations per subject is relatively small. Motivated by the Naturalistic Teenage Driving Study (NTDS), which represents the exact opposite situation, we examine standard and propose new...

This issue carries our annual homage to the many heretofore anonymous colleagues who during the last year have volunteered their valuable time and expertise in reviewing manuscripts for Health Education & Behavior (HEB in the scientific world to ensure that only the most important and meritorious research is funded; and in the publishing world to a...

The purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which elevated gravitational-force event rates predict crashes and near crashes. Accelerometers, global positioning systems, cameras, and other technology were installed in vehicles driven by 42 newly licensed Virginia teenage drivers for a period of 18 months between 2006 and 2009. Elevat...

This study examined relationships between music preferences and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) among 18,103 fifteen-year-olds from 10 European countries. In 2005-2006, across Europe, preferences for mainstream Pop (pop chart music) and Highbrow (classical music and jazz) were negatively associated with substance use, while preferences f...