Introduction. In the context of risky driving, studies rarely analyse all three reference groups that shape new drivers' social norms: parents, peers, and other drivers. This exploratory study seeks to find existing differences between adolescents based on their perceived social norms from three reference groups. Latent profile analysis is used for finding existing subgroups of future drivers. Attitudes towards risky driving is used for group comparison.
Method. 891 teenagers participated in the study (mean age was 16.21, SD = 0.57; 60.9% identified as women). In total, 11.3% had a driver's license. Three scales, developed by the research authors, were used for measuring injunctive parents', peers', and other drivers' risky driving norms (α = 0.80, 0.87, and 0.85, respectively; a lower score represents lower approval of risky behaviour by the group). Latent profile analysis was performed using scores of the social norms' scales. A modified attitudes towards risky driving (α = 0.70) scale was also used. The study was funded by grant No. S-MIP-24-31 from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT).
Results. Only a two-profile solution was chosen as it best fit the data (AIC = 3415.47, BIC = 3463.39, BLRT < 0.01). Profile 1 (n = 66) was described by a lower approval for risky driving behaviour from parents, and average approval from peers and other drivers, while Profile 2 (n = 825) was described by low approval of risky driving behaviour from parents, peers, and other drivers. Profile 1 reported more positive attitudes towards risky driving (t(889) = 6.05, p < 0.01).
Conclusions. Findings suggest that while parents tend to disapprove of any kind of risky behaviour, perceived approval of peers and other drivers results in more positive attitudes towards risky driving. A deeper analysis of profiles is required.