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There is extensive evidence indicating that teenaged drivers are over-represented in automobile crashes. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-20 year olds, accounting for over 40% of all fatalities for this age group. Although teen drivers account for only 6.3% of the driving population, they account for 14% of all traffic fatalities (TSF, 2004). Currently there is a lack of continuous and naturalistic data in the field of teenaged driving. The purpose of this study was to obtain continuous performance data from a naturalistic setting by equipping the personal vehicles of newly licensed teenaged drivers with a data collection system for the first six months of driving. Specifically, this study examined the eye scanning patterns of newly licensed teenaged drivers and experienced parent drivers on straight road segment. This study provides insight into the development and change of eye-glance behaviors over the first six months of driving, the differences between novice teenaged drivers and experienced parent drivers, and how passenger presence affects eye scanning patterns. Results from this study found significant differences between novice teenaged drivers and experienced adult drivers. The results showed that teenaged drivers had much shorter glance durations away from the forward roadway and allocated a higher percentage of their glances to locations that were considered driving-related when compared to the experienced adult group. Results from the study also showed when one passenger was present in the vehicle teenaged drivers tended to have a higher percentage of time spent with their eyes off of the forward roadway. / Master of Science

The knowledge of early employment experiences has evolved over the last decade in countries such as Australia and Great Britain. In Sweden, this type of research is still unusual and the aim of this study was to break new ground by highlighting some areas that could be of extra interest in the Swedish early employment research to come. A focus in the study was to give an overview of what job sectors school students work in; and the amount of jobs aquired through school-organized work placement, private social networks or personal marketing of own merits. In addition to this, a multi variate analysis was carried out to find patterns in the picture of early employment experiences among students at upper secondary school. The findings of the study has relevance for ways of conducting career counselling and therefore the general aim of this study is to point out the importance of developing the practises of vocational psychology. A survey among 74 teenaged school students with economics as their main subject has been carried out in a mid-size Swedish city May 2012. 62 school students answered. The survey showed that 94% of the students had part-time jobs. Most common was to have 1-3 employers during the three years at upper secondary school. Most students worked in the job-sectors retail (29%), catering (23%), and care of the elderly (14%). An interesting finding was that no Swedish students seemed to work with delivery. This is surprising since this job-sector is big among school students in both Australia and Great Britain. Another interesting find was ways of aquiring a job. Not surprisingly most jobs were aquired through private social networks (59%), but some job-sectors stood out as pathways to a job for those students without the right social networks. In catering 48% of the jobs were aquired through marketing of own merits, and in the care of the elderly job-sector 78% of the jobs were aquired this way. The study indicates that early work experiences in Sweden in major parts reflect the research carried out in Austalia and Great Britain. But some research areas differ. A more close look at early work experiences among teenaged school students in Sweden is therefore necessary to develop vocational psychology and to incorporate learning outside school into school practices. An aspect that has been observed sofar is the way in which social background steers both the experience of early employment and career choice.

Research has reported that a predictive link exists between socio-economic risk factors and high school dropouts, including teen-aged parents. Educators have little control over socio-economic risk factors. However, school records and classroom performance data can point to in-school risk factors. The purpose of this study was to help all students by using the in-school data to pinpoint the indicators that predict potential student achievement difficulties in specific areas of curricula. This study was an anteriospective longitudinal study of the 1995 graduating class of a suburban school district composed of approximately 920 seniors. The sample consisted of 344 graduates, 114 dropouts, and 42 teenaged parents. Backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was the statistical method used for model building. An analysis was done by gender at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th grades from the permanent records of sample students. The study found that significant predictors exist at each grade level and are different for each group, grade level, and gender with some predictors in common: language arts and attendance. The most consistent male dropout predictors were found to be absenteeism, grades in language arts, spelling, and achievement test scores in language arts. The most consistent female dropout predictors were found to be absenteeism, elementary retention, course failures, and achievement test scores in language arts. Achievement test scores in language arts were found to be the most important in-school predictors for teen-aged parents. The predictors for teenaged parents followed the same pattern as female dropouts and graduates until the 8th grade where achievement test scores in vocabulary, math, and total battery became important predictors. Teen-aged parents were found to be a sub-population of dropouts or graduates. Teen-aged parents dropped out or graduated from school based on the early predictors of dropouts or graduates, not based on parenting or single status.