Studies from Pennsylvania State University Have Provided New Data on Risk Management (Texting while driving, executive function, and impulsivity in…

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Studies from Pennsylvania State University Have Provided New Data on Risk Management (Texting while driving, executive function, and impulsivity in college students)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Investigators publish new report on Risk Management. According to news reporting out of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cognitive processes underlying texting while driving. A sample of 120 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read a text message while driving."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Pennsylvania State University, "Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 20 students who frequently text while driving and 20 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they differed in self-reported measures of executive function and impulsivity. The groups were also compared on a behavioral measure of impulsivity: the extent to which they discounted hypothetical monetary rewards as a function of the delay. For this measure, the students made repeated choices between smaller monetary rewards available immediately and larger rewards available after delays ranging from 1 week to 6 months. The results show that the group of students who frequently text while driving showed (a) significantly lower levels of executive function and (b) higher levels of self-reported impulsivity, although the groups did not differ significantly on the behavioral measure of impulsivity."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "These results support a general conclusion that drivers with lower levels of executive function and higher levels of impulsivity are more likely to text while driving."

For more information on this research see: Texting while driving, executive function, and impulsivity in college students. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2017;102():72-80. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Y. Hayashi, Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton, PA 18202, United States. Additional authors for this research include E.A. Rivera, J.G. Modico, A.M. Foreman and O. Wirth.

Keywords for this news article include: Hazleton, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America, Risk Management, Pennsylvania State University.