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Home » Lose Weight Safely » Teen texting behind wheel common, study finds

Forty-two percent of Massachusetts high school students who drive admit they text while behind the wheel, according to a state survey to be released Friday.

The report, from the states Department of Public Health, also finds that texting while driving is most common among high school seniors, with 61 percent of drivers admitting to the behavior, more than three times the percentage for sophomore drivers.

A national survey released Thursday also found high rates of texting while driving. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that 33 percent of high school students said they texted or e-mailed while driving - although the wording of the question differed from the Massachusetts survey, making the results hard to compare.

The findings come a day after Massachusetts made headlines for the conviction of a Haverhill teenager who caused a fatal crash while texting - the first such verdict in the state.

Aaron Deveau, 18, was sentenced to a year in prison on Wednesday for the February 2011 accident that killed 56-year-old Donald Bowley of New Hampshire.

The state survey queried nearly 5,400 high school students in the spring of 2011 on a wide variety of health and behavior issues, from cyber-bullying to perceptions of obesity.

It found that overall, 16 percent of Massachusetts high school students reported being a victim of electronic bullying, via e-mail, chat rooms, websites, or texting. Females were more than twice as likely as males to endure the assaults, the report found.

On weight issues, the survey found that not much has changed since 2003 - except perceptions.

Roughly a quarter of the states high school students over the past decade have been overweight or obese, but the percentage of those who view themselves with a weight problem has measurably declined during that time, with just 28 percent indicating it as an issue last year, down from 31 percent in 2003 - a statistically significant difference.

Being overweight or obese has started to become the new normal, said Dr. Lauren Smith, medical director of the states health department, noting that this change could mean fewer students are motivated to lose weight.

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Teen texting behind wheel common, study finds

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Home » Lose Weight Safely » Teen texting behind wheel common, study finds