Sixty-seven deaths per week, nine per day, one every two hours: Motor-vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States, and although fatalities have declined in recent years, almost 3,500 teenagers still die every year in motor vehicle crashes (NHTSA 2011). In fact, 35% of all deaths among 16- to 19-year-olds are…

Numerous studies have shown that later school start times (SST) are associated with positive student outcomes, including improvements in academic performance, mental and physical health, and public safety. While the benefits of later SST are very well documented in the literature, in practice there is opposition against delaying SST. A major…

The results from this three-year research study, conducted with over 9,000 students in eight public high schools in three states, reveal that high schools that start at 8:30 AM or later allow for more than 60% of students to obtain at least eight hours of sleep per school night. Teens getting less than eight hours of sleep reported significantly…

This study explores the added value of co-design in addition to other innovation research methods in the process of developing a serious game design document for a road safety game. The sessions aimed at exploring 4 aspects of a location-based game experience: themes, game mechanics, mobile phone applications and locations for mini-games. In…

The percentage of teens in high school who drink and drive has decreased by more than half since 1991, but more can be done. Nearly one million high school teens drank alcohol and got behind the wheel in 2011. Teen drivers are 3 times more likely than more experienced drivers to be in a fatal crash. Drinking any alcohol greatly increases this risk…

A substantial proportion of high school students consume alcohol, with nearly a quarter of 12th grade students reporting binge drinking in the past two weeks. Drinking alcohol in adolescence is associated with a variety of other risky behaviors, as well as with an increased likelihood of long-term problems reaching into adulthood. This "Adolescent…

The school environment has been often identified as a prosperous venue for public health improvement. This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of a school-based helmet promotion program on knowledge, attitudes and practices of eligible adolescent drivers. Four public, four private and four vocational high schools…

Educators around the nation are considering pushing high school starting times back until later in the morning, based on evidence suggesting that amount of sleep and circadian rhythms play a part in adolescents' academic performance. While research confirms that adolescents do not get enough sleep and that insufficient sleep can negatively…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which parents intend to place driving limits on adolescents approaching unsupervised driving. A total of 658 parents and their 16-year-old adolescents were recruited from a local Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration site as adolescents successfully tested for provisional licenses. Parents…

The vigilance levels of a group of 59 students were assessed in the daytime (9:00-11:00 a.m.) and again early Sunday morning (2:30-5:00 a.m.), and were then compared. Data were collected at the students' schools. The differences in performance impairment associated with different Saturday night social activities and the effect of alcohol…