Connection without caution? The role of mobile phone involvement in predicting young people’s intentions to use a mobile phone while driving

Abstract

The present study examined the predictors of the intentions of young people aged between 17 and 24 years (N = 196) to use their mobile phone while driving. Using convenience sampling, drivers were recruited at petrol station travel centres to complete a cross-sectional survey. The Theory of Planned Behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control (PBC) were measured, as well as mobile phone involvement - a construct based on behavioural addiction components to reflect people’s cognitive and behavioural interaction with their mobile phone. Attitudes, PBC, and mobile phone involvement predicted young people’s intentions to use their mobile phone while driving, highlighting the need for interventions to address the perceived rewards and costs of the behaviour and to challenge the potentially powerful need to be constantly connected with others by technology irrespective of the associated dangers.