Teen Injuries in Auto Accidents: Sense of Invincibility May Cause Car Crashes
The most recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons has a study on teenagers' attitudes to trauma-related injuries from car crashes, showing that most of them have a "sense of invincibility and focus on fate rather than choice."
These attitudes are dangerous because, while everyone knows about the impact of drugs and alcohol on people's behavior, false beliefs can often be just as harmful as drinking too much. From the article:
researchers say existing injury prevention initiatives often fall short of countering flawed beliefs and must better demonstrate - especially to teens - how and why their young age puts them at greater risk for injury."Students need to comprehend that it is lack of judgment, not only lack of skill, that increases the risk of injury to one's self and others. 'Not wanting something bad to happen' is simply not enough," said Najma Ahmed, MD, PhD, FACS, assistant trauma director, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto. "In addition to giving teens the knowledge and teaching them the technical skills, injury prevention programs must also address teens' attitudes about being immune to illness and death as a means of changing high-risk behaviors, such as driving while impaired."
