Behaviors increasing the risk of crash injury in Latino adolescent males: The influence of acculturation and parent connectedness

Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens and cause the largest proportion of mortality among Latino adolescent males. MVC-related injury disparities persist and are growing among U.S. Latino adolescent males, where current mortality rates exceed those of their non-Latino white peers. For adolescent drivers, substance use is a known risk factor for a serious or fatal MVC. Acculturation in U.S. Latino adolescents has been previously shown to play an important role in substance use propensity (Castro, Stein, & Bentler, 2009), while substance use of any kind is linked to an increase in MVC risk among adolescents (Dunlop & Romer, 2010). Despite the negative effects of poverty, low education, and poor access to healthcare, U.S. Latinos as a group have been noted for having health outcomes similar, and in some cases, better than non-Latino white peers in what is commonly described as the “Latino Epidemiological Paradox” (Morales, Lara, Kington, Valdez, & Escarce, 2002). We sought to assess the effects of acculturation and parent connectedness on behaviors increasing the risk of crash injury in Latino adolescent males.