Driving high: a study of student driving behaviours and attitudes towards marijuana use and driving
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)
Summary
This study investigates the prevalence, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol among high school students. Motivated by the growing public health concern over drug-impaired driving in Canada and the lack of specific data on adolescent behaviors, the research aims to determine how substance use frequency, gender, and licensing status influence risky driving practices. The study specifically examines whether adolescents perceive risks associated with driving after using marijuana, alcohol, or both, and how these perceptions predict their intentions to engage in such behaviors. The research employed a cross-sectional survey design involving 793 Grade 9–12 students from rural and urban areas of Eastern Ontario, conducted between September 2006 and April 2007. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing past-year substance use, driving history, frequency of driving or riding as a passenger after substance use, accident involvement, and attitudes toward substance-related driving. The study utilized the Theory of Planned Behaviour to analyze how attitudes and subjective norms predict intentions to drive after using substances. Statistical analyses examined differences in behaviors and attitudes based on gender, frequency of marijuana and alcohol use, and type of driver’s licence. Key findings revealed that driving after marijuana use was the most prevalent form of substance-related driving among licensed students who used the substance, followed by driving after alcohol use and driving after combined use. While a significant percentage of youth reported riding as passengers with impaired drivers, actual substance-related accident involvement was relatively infrequent. Attitudes were most negative toward driving after combined marijuana and alcohol use, whereas attitudes toward driving after marijuana alone or alcohol alone did not differ significantly. Male students and those with higher frequencies of substance use were more likely to drive or ride with impaired drivers. These groups also reported greater intentions to drive after substance use and perceived less risk associated with the behavior. Consistent with the Theory of Planned Behaviour, attitudes and subjective norms significantly predicted intentions to drive after using marijuana or alcohol individually. However, subjective norms were the only significant determinant of intentions to drive after using both substances combined. The study concludes that targeted efforts to deter marijuana-impaired driving are warranted, particularly for high-risk groups such as males and frequent substance users. The findings highlight that adolescents often underestimate the risks of driving under the influence, especially when marijuana is involved. The results suggest that interventions should focus on correcting misperceptions of risk and addressing subjective norms, as these factors strongly influence behavioral intentions. This research provides critical empirical evidence for policymakers and safety advocates to develop effective strategies for reducing drug-impaired driving among young people.
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | pdftotext | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| enrich | success | openalex | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-20 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-19 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-26 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence