Theories Behind Teens Driving Intoxicated

Teenagers Behind the Wheel At the moment a teenager receives a drivers license, they are emerged into a world of freedom. The decision on how to get from point A to point B completely rests on their shoulders. While freedom is a trait worth cherishing, it is also a trait that one must be responsible with. With that being said, it is a known fact that teenagers are involved in more vehicle accidents than adults. One of the reasons being that they have a higher rate of driving under the influence. It is important to examine why teens drive intoxicated, in order to have an idea on how to stop it from happening in the future.

Theories Behind Teens Driving Intoxicated To get a better understanding, there are three major theories that could possibly

The first theory that can help us understand why teen’s make the decision to drive under the influence is the Operant Conditioning Theory. This theory states that the consequences of a behavior determines whether it is repeated in the future. If the behavior is reinforced and the individual is rewarded, the behavior is more likely to occur again. If the behavior isn’t reinforced and the individual is punished, the likelihood of the behavior occurring again is less-likely. This could be a possible explanation for why teenagers continue to drive intoxicated. It is possible that they make this destructive decision because they have never had a punishment for that behavior before, or in other words, they have yet to be caught. If they haven’t had a consequence for their actions, they can begin to believe they are invincible. Although the consequence of punishment is a great way to keep teens from drinking and driving, it could also be stopped by reinforcement. If a teenager is given a reward for finding a sober ride or being a designated driver, it could lead to making better decisions in the

The next theory that can help explain a teenager’s actions is Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory. This theory is defined by it’s eight stages of Psychosocial Development. The Journal of Youth and Adolescence states that “Each stage arises because a new dimension of social interaction becomes possible with increasing maturity.” This means that as one increases in age and in maturity, they begin to go through different stages and challenges of life. The Psychosocial Theory claims that during adolescence, teenagers are going through the Identity vs. Identity Confusion stage. In this phase, teens are faced with the challenge of being able to develop a lasting, integrated sense of self. They are looking to find who they are and are often confused about who they want to be. This could be a reason behind making the destructive decision to drink and drive. When a teenager is looking to find themselves, they can often get lost along the way, which in turn leads to poor decisions, such as drinking and driving. More often than not, when a teen is looking to fit in or identify themselves with a certain group or clique, they may make decisions they normally wouldn’t. An example of this would be a teenager driving intoxicated in order to fit into a certain crowd or impress a group of