Human Services News

From University of Georgia:

Warnings that alcohol and driving don't mix are generally targeted at adults or high school students, but a new University of Georgia study finds that some middle schoolers in rural areas are drinking and driving as well.

Researchers, whose results appear in the November issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, surveyed 290 middle school students in the Mississippi Delta and found that 17 percent had driven an automobile after drinking.

The study was limited to one school so lead author Jessica Muilenburg, assistant professor in the UGA College of Public Health, cautions against drawing too broad a conclusion.

Muilenburg said that early alcohol use and other risky behaviors, such as smoking, tend to be more prevalent in rural areas where there's simply not as much to do outside of school.

She adds that rural youth tend to be more familiar with motorized vehicles such as ATVs and farm equipment and have the opportunity to drive cars or trucks on family farms or back roads where they're not likely to be noticed.

The school Muilenburg studied had a high poverty rate and a low high school graduation rate typical of many poor rural communities.

The 290 students in her study were seventh and eighth graders (mostly 13 or 14 years old) who had received parental permission to fill out an anonymous survey on risky behaviors.

In addition to finding that 17 percent of students drove after drinking alcohol, the study also found that just under half -- 45 percent -- said that in the past 30 days they had ridden with a driver who had been drinking.

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