Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-52).

Driving under the influence of alcohol is one of the biggest public health problems in the United States. A number of theories exist as to why people drive after drinking, one of the dominant being that they believe that they are not legally intoxicated. The purpose of the present study is to determine if people tend to accurately estimate the number of alcoholic beverages they can consume before reaching a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent. Participants consisted of27 college students. Results showed a significant difference between the participants' estimated number of drinks and the actual number of drinks as determined by a Virtual Bar program. This virtual bar delivery system calculates BAC based on gender, weight, and number of drinks in a given time. Links to past research and theory are presented.

Under frameworks such as Alcohol Myopia Theory, a body of literature has developed demonstrating how alcohol intoxication can increase behavioral risk-taking, potentially via impaired inhibition of prepotent behavioral responses. A separate area of research has shown that responses to alcohol intoxication are not homogenous across the population. Whereas most previous research has considered alcohol responses in relation to risk for alcohol use disorders, the present investigation tested whether they may additionally contribute to the acute effects of alcohol on drinking-episode-specific cognitive and behavioral consequences. We recruited 82 moderate-to-heavy drinking emerging adults to each complete 2 research protocols: a placebo-controlled, within-subject, counterbalanced alcohol challenge in a simulated bar laboratory and a 21-day, event-level self-monitoring follow-up. Replicating previous research, the alcohol challenge increased heart rate and subjective stimulant-like and sedative-like responses and impaired psychomotor performance and response inhibition. Individual differences in subjective stimulation but not sedation were significantly associated with inhibitory impairment. In the event-level follow-up, we found little evidence that alcohol responses elevated risk for adverse behavioral outcomes, although evidence was stronger that alcohol responses were associated with alcohol-induced memory blackout. Whether and how alcohol responses relate to the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral consequences of alcohol intoxication may depend on a) the quality of the response (e.g., stimulation vs. sedation), b) the type of outcome (e.g., response inhibition vs. blackout vs. behavioral risk-taking), and c) whether perceptions of alcohol-induced effects may contribute to emerging adults' evaluations of risk (e.g., driving after drinking and riding with a drinking driver). / text

abstract: Driving under the influence (DUI) is a problem in American society that has received considerable attention over recent decades from local police agencies, lobby groups, and the news media. While punitive policies, administrative sanctions and aggressive media campaigns to deter drinking and driving have been used in the past, less conventional methods to restructure or modify the urban environment to discourage drunk driving have been underused. Explanations with regard to DUIs are policy driven more often than they are guided by criminological theory. The current study uses the routine activities perspective as a backdrop for assessing whether a relatively new mode of transportation - an urban light rail system - in a large metropolitan city in the Southwestern U.S. can alter behaviors of individuals who are likely to drive under the influence of alcohol. The study is based on a survey of undergraduate students from a large university that has several stops on the light rail system connecting multiple campuses. This thesis examines whether the light rail system has a greater effect on students whose routines activities (relatively unsupervised college youth with greater access to cars and bars) are more conducive to driving under the influence of alcohol. An additional purpose of the current study is to determine whether proximity to the light rail system is associated with students driving under the influence of alcohol, while controlling for other criminological factors / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2014

Orientador: Maria Cristina Pereira Lima / Resumo: Introdução: Os acidentes de trânsito (AT) fazem aumentar a população que possui alguma deficiência e os anos potenciais de vida perdidos; causam dor e sofrimento aos familiares das vítimas e geram gastos aos sistemas de saúde e previdenciário dos países. Objetivo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os fatores associados aos óbitos causados por AT no Brasil à partir de uma série de quatro estudos produzidos com dados secundários. Método: O estudo 1 apresenta sínteses da prevalência do ato de beber e dirigir (%BD) no Brasil após a promulgação da Lei Seca de 2008 (LS08), obtidas por modelos de meta-análise de efeitos aleatórios, à partir de estudos selecionados nas bases Scielo, Medline, Embase e Web of Science. O estudo 2 é um “Interrupted Time Series” (ITS) que avalia o impacto da LS08 sobre o número mensal de óbitos por AT no Brasil entre 2002 a 2015 por meio de um modelo de séries temporais com resposta Binomial Negativa. O estudo 3 é um ITS que avalia o impacto da LS08 sobre a mortalidade por AT nos 27 estados brasileiros por meio de modelos de séries temporais da classe ARIMA, ajustados para cada um dos estados. O estudo 4 apresenta uma revisão sobre aspectos de planejamento e validade dos resultados de estudos conduzidos sob o delineamento ITS, à partir do referencial teórico de Campbell e Stanley (1963), com exemplos de estudos ITS aplicados no trânsito. Resultados: As sínteses obtidas no estudo 1 mostram que, em um período de 12 meses, 26,8% dos motoristas dirigem so... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction: Traffic accidents (TA) increase the population with disabilities and the potential years of life lost, cause pain and suffering to the families of the victims, and generate expenses for the health and social security systems of the countries. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the factors associated with deaths caused by TA in Brazil from a series of four studies produced with secondary data. Method: Study 1 presents a summary of the prevalence of drinking and driving (% BD) in Brazil after the enactment of the 2008 Dry Law (LS08), obtained by random effects meta-analysis models, based on studies selected at Scielo , Medline, Embase and Web the Science. Study 2 is an "Interrupted Time Series" (ITS) that assesses the impact of LS08 on the monthly number of TA deaths in Brazil between 2002 and 2015 through a time series model with Negative Binomial response. Study 3 is an ITS that assesses the impact of LS08 on TA mortality in the 27 Brazilian states through time series models of the ARIMA class, adjusted for each state. Study 4 presents a review on aspects of planning and validity of the results of studies conducted under the ITS design, based on the theoretical reference of Campbell and Stanley (1963), with examples of ITS studies applied in traffic. Results: The syntheses obtained in study 1 show that, in a 12-month period, 26.8% of the drivers drive under the influence of alcohol, 8.9% of the drivers are caught under the influence of alcoho... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Objetivo Desenvolver um teste psicofísico apoiado em tecnologia móvel em que o desempenho do participante possa revelar à influência da ingestão de álcool pelas alterações cognitivas e motoras produzidas por essa droga. Método Foram 3 protocolos experimentais preliminares. Protocolo experimental 1: Um total de 11 participantes (6 homens e 5 mulheres, de 30 a 53 anos) executaram um teste de tempo de reação go-no-go a três estímulos (semáforo verde:go, semáforo vermelho: no-go, semáforo amarelo: no-go e um estímulo preparatório: semáforo apagado). Protocolo experimental 2: Um total de 13 participantes (mulheres, de 18 a 37 anos) executaram 3 testes: a) Teste de tempo de reação escolha a três estímulos (semáforo verde, semáforo vermelho, semáforo amarelo) e um estímulo preparatório (semáforo apagado). b) Teste de memória em que a tarefa era a de pressionar um botão informando se a imagem que aparecia na tela era nova e outro botão caso a imagem fosse repetida. c) Teste de associação em que a tarefa era a de associar figuras a um número seguindo uma tabela de comparação. Protocolo experimental 3: Um total de 8 participantes (5 homens e 2 mulheres, de 22 a 42 anos) executaram os mesmos testes aplicados no protocolo experimental 2 com apenas uma diferença em uma das tarefas do teste de tempo de reação escolha. A análise de dados privilegiou a análise dos tempos de reação e o índice de acertos. Resultados Protocolo experimental 1 Os testes pareados, tanto para os tempos de reação (t(5)=0,199, p=0,850), quanto para a quantidade de erros (t(5)=0,675, p=0,529), não apontaram nenhuma diferença significativa entre as condições sem e com álcool. Resultados Protocolo experimental 2 As ANOVAs-MR dos tempos de reação e do número de erros do teste de reação escolha não revelaram diferenças significativas para a condição (F(2,36)=1,175, p=0.315, hp 2 =0.32 e F(2,36)=1.944, p=0.165, respectivamente), para cor de semáforo (F(2,36)=0.289, p>0.5, hp 2 =0.16) e tampouco para interação condição x cor de semáforo (F(2,36)=0,355, p=0.840, hp 2 =0.19). No teste de memória, as ANOVAs-MR não revelaram nenhuma 6 diferença significativa para a condição dos tempos de reação (F(2,36)=0,693, p>0,05, n2 =0,05). No teste de associação uma ANOVA-MR revelou uma diferença significativa nos tempos de reação F(2,36)=4,924, p=0,016, n2=0,291), porém nenhuma diferença foi encontrada para erros absolutos (F(2,36)=0,255, p>0,5, n2=0,090) e erros absolutos (F(2,36)=0,255, p>0.5, n=0,02) para a condição sem álcool e com álcool acima de 0.06 %BAC. Resultados Protocolo experimental 3 No teste de tempo de reação escolha não houve indícios de diferenças significantes para as condições com e sem álcool. Os níveis descritivos encontrados no teste Kruskall-Walis foram 0,309, 0,222 e 0,323 para percentual de acerto, tempo médio de reação verde e vermelho, respectivamente. No teste de memória nenhuma das variáveis de tempo de reação (média, maior e menor) apresentou indícios estatisticamente significantes (p-valores 0,633 0,975 e 0,431, respectivamente), tampouco o padrão e indices descritivos (p=0,238) para a média de acertos e o número de acertos. No teste de associação a variável tempo de resposta apresentou evidências estatisticamente significantes de que os grupos não apresentaram valores médios e medianos iguais entre si (p<0,001), houve evidências de que o grupo de 0 a 0,1 %BAC e maior de 0,1 %BAC eram diferentes entre si (p=0,003). Discussão Parece promissor a realização do teste de associação com um aumento da carga cognitiva afim de poder verificar diferenças mesmo quando o indivíduo consumir pequenas doses de álcool. Considerações Finais Os resultados expostos acima dão margem a otimismo e abrem um amplo horizonte de perspectivas em situações ecológicas da vida real, e não mais nas situações tradicionais e artificiais de laboratório, estendendo o ambiente de experimentação e viabilizando a coleta de grandes conjuntos de dados / Objective To Develop a psychophysical test supported by mobile technology in which the performance of the participant could reveal the influence of alcohol intake by cognitive and motor changes produced by this drug. Method There were 3 preliminary experiments. Experiment 1: A total of 11 participants (6 males and 5 females, 30-53 years) performed a go-no-go reaction time test to three stimuli (green traffic light: go, red trafic light: no-go, yellow trafic light: no-go and a preparatory stimulus: black trafic light). Experiment 2: A total of 13 participants (women, 18-37 years) performed three tests: a) A choice reaction time test to three stimuli (green trafic light, red trafic light, yellow trafic light) and a preparatory stimulus (black trafic light). b) A memory test where the task was to press a button stating that the image that was displayed on the screen was new and another button stating that the image was repeated. c) An association test where the task was to associate figures to a number, following a comparison chart. Experiment 3: A total of 8 participants (5 men and 2 women, 22 to 42 years) performed the same tests applied in experiment number 2 with only one difference in a task of the choice reaction time test. Data analysis focused on standart deviations and coefficients of variation. Results Experiment 1 A paired test for both, reaction times (t (5) = 0.199, p = 0.850) and for the number of errors (t (5) = 0.675, p = 0.529) did not show any significant difference between the conditions with and without alcohol. Results Experiment 2 In the choice reaction time test the ANOVAs 2-MR reaction times and the number of reaction errors revealed no significant differences in both conditions (F (2,36) = 1.175, p = 0.315, HP2 and F = 12:32 (2, 36) = 1.944, p = 0.165, respectively) for color signal (F (2,36) = 0.289, p> 0.5, HP2 = 0:16) and also for condition x color signal (F (2,36) = 0.355, p = 0.840, hp2 = 12:19). In the memory test, the ANOVAs-MR showed no significant differences of the reaction time in all conditions (F (2,36) = 0.693, p> 0.05, n2 = 0.05). In the association test ANOVA-MR revealed a significant difference in 8 reaction times F (2,36) = 4.924, p = 0.016, n 2 = 0.291), but no difference was found for absolute errors (F (2,36) = 0.255, p> 0.5, n2 = 0.090) and absolute errors (F (2,36) = 0.255, p> 0.5, n = 0.02) for the alcohol and alcohol above condition 0.06% BAC. Results Experiment 3 In the choice reaction time test there were no significant evidence of a difference between their position values for the condition with and without alcohol. Descriptive levels found in the Kruskal-Wallis test were 0.309, 0.222 and 0.323 for percentage of correct answers, average reaction time of green and red, respectively. In the memory test, none of the reaction time variables (average, highest and lowest) showed statistically significant evidence (p-value 0.633 0.975 and 0.431, respectively), p-value standard (p = 0.238) for the mean score and the number of hits. In the association test the time variable response presented significant statistically evidence that the groups didnt have mean values equal to each other (p <0.001) there were evidence that the group 0 to 0.1% BAC, and the group larger than 0,1% BAC were different from each other (p = 0.003.) Discussion It sounds promising do to more research with the association test with an increase of the cognitive challange in order to verify differences even when the individual takes use of small doses of alcohol. Conlusion The results presented above give rise to optimism and open up a wide horizon of perspectives on ecological situations of real life, and not just in the traditional and artificial situations of the laboratory, extending the experimentation environment and enabling the collection of large data sets

Objetivo Desenvolver um teste psicofísico apoiado em tecnologia móvel em que o desempenho do participante possa revelar à influência da ingestão de álcool pelas alterações cognitivas e motoras produzidas por essa droga. Método Foram 3 protocolos experimentais preliminares. Protocolo experimental 1: Um total de 11 participantes (6 homens e 5 mulheres, de 30 a 53 anos) executaram um teste de tempo de reação go-no-go a três estímulos (semáforo verde:go, semáforo vermelho: no-go, semáforo amarelo: no-go e um estímulo preparatório: semáforo apagado). Protocolo experimental 2: Um total de 13 participantes (mulheres, de 18 a 37 anos) executaram 3 testes: a) Teste de tempo de reação escolha a três estímulos (semáforo verde, semáforo vermelho, semáforo amarelo) e um estímulo preparatório (semáforo apagado). b) Teste de memória em que a tarefa era a de pressionar um botão informando se a imagem que aparecia na tela era nova e outro botão caso a imagem fosse repetida. c) Teste de associação em que a tarefa era a de associar figuras a um número seguindo uma tabela de comparação. Protocolo experimental 3: Um total de 8 participantes (5 homens e 2 mulheres, de 22 a 42 anos) executaram os mesmos testes aplicados no protocolo experimental 2 com apenas uma diferença em uma das tarefas do teste de tempo de reação escolha. A análise de dados privilegiou a análise dos tempos de reação e o índice de acertos. Resultados Protocolo experimental 1 Os testes pareados, tanto para os tempos de reação (t(5)=0,199, p=0,850), quanto para a quantidade de erros (t(5)=0,675, p=0,529), não apontaram nenhuma diferença significativa entre as condições sem e com álcool. Resultados Protocolo experimental 2 As ANOVAs-MR dos tempos de reação e do número de erros do teste de reação escolha não revelaram diferenças significativas para a condição (F(2,36)=1,175, p=0.315, hp 2 =0.32 e F(2,36)=1.944, p=0.165, respectivamente), para cor de semáforo (F(2,36)=0.289, p>0.5, hp 2 =0.16) e tampouco para interação condição x cor de semáforo (F(2,36)=0,355, p=0.840, hp 2 =0.19). No teste de memória, as ANOVAs-MR não revelaram nenhuma 6 diferença significativa para a condição dos tempos de reação (F(2,36)=0,693, p>0,05, n2 =0,05). No teste de associação uma ANOVA-MR revelou uma diferença significativa nos tempos de reação F(2,36)=4,924, p=0,016, n2=0,291), porém nenhuma diferença foi encontrada para erros absolutos (F(2,36)=0,255, p>0,5, n2=0,090) e erros absolutos (F(2,36)=0,255, p>0.5, n=0,02) para a condição sem álcool e com álcool acima de 0.06 %BAC. Resultados Protocolo experimental 3 No teste de tempo de reação escolha não houve indícios de diferenças significantes para as condições com e sem álcool. Os níveis descritivos encontrados no teste Kruskall-Walis foram 0,309, 0,222 e 0,323 para percentual de acerto, tempo médio de reação verde e vermelho, respectivamente. No teste de memória nenhuma das variáveis de tempo de reação (média, maior e menor) apresentou indícios estatisticamente significantes (p-valores 0,633 0,975 e 0,431, respectivamente), tampouco o padrão e indices descritivos (p=0,238) para a média de acertos e o número de acertos. No teste de associação a variável tempo de resposta apresentou evidências estatisticamente significantes de que os grupos não apresentaram valores médios e medianos iguais entre si (p<0,001), houve evidências de que o grupo de 0 a 0,1 %BAC e maior de 0,1 %BAC eram diferentes entre si (p=0,003). Discussão Parece promissor a realização do teste de associação com um aumento da carga cognitiva afim de poder verificar diferenças mesmo quando o indivíduo consumir pequenas doses de álcool. Considerações Finais Os resultados expostos acima dão margem a otimismo e abrem um amplo horizonte de perspectivas em situações ecológicas da vida real, e não mais nas situações tradicionais e artificiais de laboratório, estendendo o ambiente de experimentação e viabilizando a coleta de grandes conjuntos de dados / Objective To Develop a psychophysical test supported by mobile technology in which the performance of the participant could reveal the influence of alcohol intake by cognitive and motor changes produced by this drug. Method There were 3 preliminary experiments. Experiment 1: A total of 11 participants (6 males and 5 females, 30-53 years) performed a go-no-go reaction time test to three stimuli (green traffic light: go, red trafic light: no-go, yellow trafic light: no-go and a preparatory stimulus: black trafic light). Experiment 2: A total of 13 participants (women, 18-37 years) performed three tests: a) A choice reaction time test to three stimuli (green trafic light, red trafic light, yellow trafic light) and a preparatory stimulus (black trafic light). b) A memory test where the task was to press a button stating that the image that was displayed on the screen was new and another button stating that the image was repeated. c) An association test where the task was to associate figures to a number, following a comparison chart. Experiment 3: A total of 8 participants (5 men and 2 women, 22 to 42 years) performed the same tests applied in experiment number 2 with only one difference in a task of the choice reaction time test. Data analysis focused on standart deviations and coefficients of variation. Results Experiment 1 A paired test for both, reaction times (t (5) = 0.199, p = 0.850) and for the number of errors (t (5) = 0.675, p = 0.529) did not show any significant difference between the conditions with and without alcohol. Results Experiment 2 In the choice reaction time test the ANOVAs 2-MR reaction times and the number of reaction errors revealed no significant differences in both conditions (F (2,36) = 1.175, p = 0.315, HP2 and F = 12:32 (2, 36) = 1.944, p = 0.165, respectively) for color signal (F (2,36) = 0.289, p> 0.5, HP2 = 0:16) and also for condition x color signal (F (2,36) = 0.355, p = 0.840, hp2 = 12:19). In the memory test, the ANOVAs-MR showed no significant differences of the reaction time in all conditions (F (2,36) = 0.693, p> 0.05, n2 = 0.05). In the association test ANOVA-MR revealed a significant difference in 8 reaction times F (2,36) = 4.924, p = 0.016, n 2 = 0.291), but no difference was found for absolute errors (F (2,36) = 0.255, p> 0.5, n2 = 0.090) and absolute errors (F (2,36) = 0.255, p> 0.5, n = 0.02) for the alcohol and alcohol above condition 0.06% BAC. Results Experiment 3 In the choice reaction time test there were no significant evidence of a difference between their position values for the condition with and without alcohol. Descriptive levels found in the Kruskal-Wallis test were 0.309, 0.222 and 0.323 for percentage of correct answers, average reaction time of green and red, respectively. In the memory test, none of the reaction time variables (average, highest and lowest) showed statistically significant evidence (p-value 0.633 0.975 and 0.431, respectively), p-value standard (p = 0.238) for the mean score and the number of hits. In the association test the time variable response presented significant statistically evidence that the groups didnt have mean values equal to each other (p <0.001) there were evidence that the group 0 to 0.1% BAC, and the group larger than 0,1% BAC were different from each other (p = 0.003.) Discussion It sounds promising do to more research with the association test with an increase of the cognitive challange in order to verify differences even when the individual takes use of small doses of alcohol. Conlusion The results presented above give rise to optimism and open up a wide horizon of perspectives on ecological situations of real life, and not just in the traditional and artificial situations of the laboratory, extending the experimentation environment and enabling the collection of large data sets

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Drinking and driving is increasingly becoming a detrimental behavior, especially amongst college-aged students in the U.S. and other countries. Additionally, research shows that college-age students in the U.S. are more likely to drink and drive, than college-age students in Germany. Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action asserts that subjective norms and attitudes signify behavioral intentions. In order to test the TRA and understand the drinking and driving differences and similarities in the U.S. and Germany, focus groups of German and American college-age students were conducted to discuss subjective norms and attitudes surrounding drinking and driving behaviors, followed up by an electronic pilot study survey regarding same. The data collected illustrated that college-age drinking and driving is occurs more frequently in the U.S., and that American and German students differ in their attitudes and subjective norms surrounding drinking and driving. Future research would benefit the continued use and circulation of the electronic surveys for larger cross-cultural samples of college-age students to more effectively and quantitatively assess actual drinking and driving behaviors as it relates to subjective norms and attitudes, as suggested in the TRA.

Durant les dernières décennies, les différences intersexes en matière de conduite avec les capacités affaiblies par l’alcool (CCAA) ont suscité l’attention, alors que le comportement est en augmentation chez les femmes tandis qu’il diminue chez les hommes. Les données suggèrent que, chez les femmes, la CCAA s’associe à des caractéristiques psychologiques différentes de celles qui se retrouvent chez les contrevenants masculins (c.-à-d. davantage de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues et de psychopathologies, mais moins de recherche de sensations et de comportements délinquants). Malgré ce profil différentiel, les femmes contrevenantes de la CCAA demeurent une population hautement méconnue, particulièrement en ce qui a trait au profil des récidivistes. Alors que chez les hommes, des données émergentes indiquent que des limitations cognitives sont présentes chez les récidivistes et qu’elles constituent potentiellement un mécanisme sous-jacent au comportement, le profil cognitif des femmes récidivistes demeure inexploré. Des données exploratoires obtenues chez les contrevenantes et la documentation de champs de recherche connexes suggèrent que les femmes se distinguent notamment en ce qui concerne leur fonctionnement exécutif qui pourrait être préservé, alors que leur fonctionnement visuospatial serait déficitaire en comparaison de leurs vis-à-vis masculins. L’objectif de la présente thèse est d’approfondir les connaissances sur les caractéristiques des femmes récidivistes, ce qui permettra de mieux comprendre l’hétérogénéité de cette population et de générer des hypothèses au regard des mécanismes cognitifs sous-jacents à la répétition du comportement de CCAA. Plus spécifiquement, la thèse a pour objectif premier d’étudier les différences entre les sexes en matière de fonctionnement visuospatial et de mémoire visuelle, d’attention et de fonctionnement exécutif (c.-à-d. flexibilité cognitive, abstraction, inhibition). L’objectif secondaire consiste à comparer ces contrevenants au regard de leurs caractéristiques psychologiques (problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues, impulsivité, recherche de sensations, traits antisociaux, anxiété et dépression). L’hypothèse examinée soutient que les femmes et les hommes récidivistes de la CCAA performent moins bien que les femmes et les hommes non-contrevenants en termes de fonctionnement visuospatial, attentionnel et exécutif. En outre, il est attendu que les femmes récidivistes présentent des performances inférieures à celles des hommes récidivistes en ce qui a trait aux fonctions visuospatiales. Par ailleurs, l’hypothèse prévoit que les hommes récidivistes aient des performances inférieures à celles des femmes récidivistes sur le plan exécutif et attentionnel. En matière de caractéristiques psychologiques, il est attendu que les femmes et les hommes récidivistes présentent significativement plus de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues, d’impulsivité, de recherche de sensations et d’indices de psychopathologies (tendance antisociale, dépression, anxiété) que les non-contrevenants. En outre, il est attendu que les femmes récidivistes présentent plus de problèmes liés à l’alcool et aux drogues et d’indices de dépression et d’anxiété que les hommes récidivistes. Enfin, il est attendu que les hommes récidivistes présentent significativement plus d’impulsivité, de recherche de sensations et de traits antisociaux que les femmes récidivistes. Ces hypothèses se confirment partiellement, alors que les hommes récidivistes (n = 39) présentent des performances inférieures à celles des hommes non-contrevenants (n = 20) et des femmes récidivistes (n = 20) sur le plan attentionnel et exécutifs. Toutefois, les femmes récidivistes ne se distinguent pas des femmes non-contrevenantes (n = 20) en matière de fonctionnement neuropsychologique. En ce qui a trait aux caractéristiques psychologiques, les résultats soutiennent partiellement les hypothèses. La discussion met en lumière que les femmes et des hommes récidivistes présentent des caractéristiques similaires, hormis en ce qui a trait au fonctionnement attentionnel et exécutif qui semble jouer un rôle dans la récidive au masculin, alors que cela n’apparaît pas être le cas chez les femmes chez qui le comportement pourrait être davantage situationnel. La nécessité que des études futures soient réalisées au moyen de devis expérimentaux, de même que les difficultés inhérentes au recrutement des femmes récidivistes sont discutées. / During the past decade, female driving while impaired by alcohol (DWIA) have gathered more attention as DWIA is increasing in females while decreasing in males. Data suggest that DWIA risk in females is associated with distinct psychological characteristics from those of male offenders (i.e. more alcohol and drug-related problems, and psychopathology, while less sensation seeking and delinquency). Despite this differential profile, female DWIA offenders remain a highly unknown population, especially regarding recidivism. In addition, growing data, mostly based on male offenders, support the idea that cognitive limitations are present in recidivists and represent a potential underlying mechanism to their behavior. Exploratory data collected in female offenders and data from other germane research fields suggest that female recidivists are cognitively distinct, especially in terms of executive functioning that could be relatively spared while their visuospatial functioning would be more impaired in comparison of male offenders. The objective of this dissertation is to enhance knowledge on female recidivist’s characteristics. This will allow a better comprehension of the heterogeneity of DWIA recidivist’s population and generate hypotheses concerning potential mechanisms that underlie their repetitive DWIA behavior. The thesis is especially targeting neuropsychological and psychological characteristics of female recidivists. More specifically, the study’s first aim is to examine DWIA recidivists sex differences regarding visuospatial functioning, attentional and executive functions (i.e. cognitive flexibility, abstraction, inhibition). The secondary objective is to compare offenders on psychological characteristics (alcohol and drug use, impulsivity, sensation seeking, anxiety, depression and antisocial tendencies). It is hypothesized that female and male DWIA recidivists would present a lower performance than their respective non-offender counterparts in terms of visuospatial, attentional and executive functions. In addition, it is expected that female recidivists would present a lower visuospatial performance than male recidivists. It is also hypothesized that male recidivists would exhibit lower attentional and executive performances than female recidivists. Regarding psychological characteristics, it is expected that recidivists would present more alcohol and drug-related problems, impulsivity, sensations seeking and psychopathology (antisocial tendencies, depression, anxiety) than non-offenders and that female recidivists would present more alcohol and drug-related problems, depression and anxiety than male recidivists. Finally, hypotheses suggest that male recidivists would present more impulsivity, sensations seeking and antisocial tendencies than female recidivists. These hypotheses are partially supported as male recidivists (n = 39) present lower attentional and executive performances than male non-offenders (n = 20) and female recidivists (n = 20). However, female recidivists do not significantly differ from female non-offenders (n = 20) in terms of neuropsychological functioning. In regard to psychological characteristics, results partially support hypotheses. The discussion highlights female and male similar characteristics except for attentional and executive mechanisms that seem to play a role in male recidivism, while it is apparently not the case in female recidivists whose behavior could be more situational. The need for further studies with experimental design as well as difficulty in female recruitment are discussed.