Theory-Based Antecedents of Stopping Texting While Driving Among College Students for Injury Prevention: A Cross-Sectional Study.
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Summary
This cross-sectional study investigates the theoretical antecedents of stopping texting while driving (TWD) among college students, aiming to improve injury prevention strategies. TWD is a leading cause of distracted driving crashes, particularly among young adults who often underestimate the risks despite high prevalence rates. Existing interventions, such as awareness campaigns and legal bans, have shown limited success in producing sustained behavioral change. To address this gap, the researchers applied the Multi-Theory Model (MTM), a fourth-generation health behavior framework that distinguishes between the initiation and sustenance of behavior change. The study sought to identify specific cognitive and environmental predictors that motivate students to stop TWD and maintain this abstinence, providing evidence for theory-driven intervention design. The study recruited 164 college students from a public university in the Southwestern United States who reported engaging in TWD in the past 30 days. Data were collected via a 49-item validated questionnaire assessing MTM constructs: initiation factors (participatory dialogue, behavioral confidence, changes in physical environment) and sustenance factors (emotional transformation, practice for change, changes in social environment). The researchers employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess construct validity and model fit, and hierarchical multiple regression to identify predictors of behavioral initiation and sustenance intentions. Covariates included demographic variables and self-reported problematic texting behavior. The instrument demonstrated strong internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.71 to 0.93. Results indicated that the MTM effectively explained both phases of behavior change. For initiation, behavioral confidence was the significant predictor (β = 0.30, p < 0.001), explaining 51.5% of the variance in the intention to stop TWD. SEM analysis further confirmed that behavioral confidence and perceived advantages significantly predicted initiation. For sustenance, emotional transformation (β = 0.41, p < 0.001) and practice for change (β = 0.27, p = 0.0105) significantly predicted the intention to maintain abstinence, accounting for 61.5% of the variance. The SEM models demonstrated excellent fit indices (CFI ≥ 0.950, RMSEA ≤ 0.057), validating the theoretical structure. While SEM paths for sustenance constructs did not reach conventional significance levels in the structural model, the high correlations among sustenance variables and their strong predictive power in regression analyses underscore their importance. The findings suggest that interventions targeting TWD cessation should prioritize strengthening behavioral confidence to initiate change and fostering emotional transformation and practical coping strategies to sustain it. The study validates the MTM as a robust framework for understanding TWD behavior, offering a more nuanced approach than traditional models that focus solely on intentions. By identifying specific mechanisms for both starting and maintaining safer driving habits, these results support the development of targeted, multi-level prevention programs. This approach has significant public health implications, potentially reducing the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with distracted driving among young adults.
Key finding
MTM constructs (participatory dialogue, behavioral confidence, environmental change, emotional transformation, practice for change) provide a coherent theoretical scaffold for designing interventions to stop college-student texting while driving, with structural-equation evidence that the full sample (not just current texters) is informative.
Methodology
survey
Sample size: 250
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-04 |
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| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
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| enrich | success | crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 16 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
- Theoretical Contribution: theory or model