Predicting self-reported drink driving among middle-aged women

Highlights - Drink driving is increasing among middle-aged women in Australia and elsewhere. - The influence of alcohol beliefs and harmful drinking on self-reported drink driving was examined among Australian women aged 45–59 years. - Harmful alcohol use and the idea of alcohol as a social enhancer predicted drink driving in the current sample. - In addition to harmful drinking, the need to travel home after social gatherings involving alcohol may be a predictor of drink driving. Abstract A substantial and sustained increase in the proportion of drink drivers that is female is observed in many parts of the motorised world. Given this trend, a better understanding of the factors that influence drink driving among women is needed. The current study investigated drink driving among middle- aged women, a relatively under-researched group of female drink drivers. A total of 781 women (age; M = 51.36, SD = 4.29 years) completed a cross-sectional survey measuring a number of alcohol beliefs and drink driving. Among the included alcohol beliefs, viewing alcohol as a form of social enhancement as well as higher perceived heavy episodic drinking among same-aged women and greater acceptability toward this consumption pattern significantly increased the likelihood of self-reported drink driving. However, after adjusting for harmful consumption patterns, only alcohol as form of social enhancement remained significant. These results indicate that middle-aged women who engage in harmful alcohol consumption are more likely to drink drive, but also that the social aspect of drinking is a risk factor. Targeting both harmful consumption patterns as well as alcohol beliefs that are held by middle-aged women may reduce the incidence of drink driving in this group.