Author: Sasha Tanner
The question about why people choose to drive while intoxicated is a pressing concern for preventative and educative efforts, but the matter of repeat offense sheds light on where policy and research should deepen.
Pathways to Recidivism Behavior: Willingness Versus Intention
The research group used the prototype willingness model (PWM) to interpret the mechanisms of behavioral performance, characterized by two paths:
- Reasoned path: preconceived attitudes (an individual’s perception of a certain behavior, whether positive or negative) and subjective norms (peer pressure and expectations from one’s social environment) influence a person’s intentions, which is reflected by actual behaviors
- Social reactive path: composed of prototypes (people who engage in a certain behavior) and willingness (taking the opportunity to engage in a certain behavior when the time comes)
Study Design
From July through September 2024, the researchers gathered information from local motor vehicle offices in Taiwan, issuing a survey of 40 questions to over 800 alcohol impaired driving offenders. They were asked to provide their demographic information, such as age, education, and driver’s license status.
They used the PWM in the latter half of the survey, asking a range of scaled questions about individual behaviors, attitudes, willingness, surrounding norms, and prototypes towards alcohol impaired driving.
Demographic Information
- 756 (88.4%) participants were male and 99 (11.6%) were female
- 223 (26.1%) participants were 46-55 years old and 222 (26%) were 36-45 years old
- 517 (60.4%) participants were finished with high school or vocational education while 21.5% did not finish high school
- 619 (72.4%) had their driver’s license for 8 years or more while 113 participants had it for 2 years or less
Survey Results
- Subjective norms did not predict a person’s intention to participate in alcohol impaired driving. This means that the social environment did not affect whether someone wanted to perform that behavior.
- Attitudes and norms predict the willingness to drink and drive. For instance, if someone has a positive attitude and is encouraged by their social group to partake in a certain behavior, they are more willing to perform that behavior.
- Prototypes affect whether a person is willing to engage in alcohol impaired driving behaviors. Positive attitudes towards the prototype leads to elevated intentions to drink and drive.
- Repeat drinking and driving offenses are predicted by a person’s intention and willingness, with will being a stronger indicator than intent. In other words, recidivism aligns with the social-reactive decision-making path over the reasoned path.
- Driving while impaired by alcohol is influenced by attitudes, willingness, and behavioral control.
Policy Implications
- The insights from this study can be used for creating education and prevention programs, as well as government-managed campaigns to certain groups such as repeat DWI offenders, novice drivers, and even seasoned drivers.
- Additionally, these programs should extend to younger people to prevent alcohol impaired driving in the first place, especially through using media and advertising to discourage those behaviors.
- Ignition interlock devices should be advertised and promoted in a positive light by the government for widespread use among DWI offenders to increase their willingness to use it.
Understanding why people repeatedly drink and drive is crucial for all stages in the DWI pipeline. For more information, check out the article below.
Source: Jou, R.-C., & Hsu, H.-W. (2025). Determinants for Drunk Driving Recidivism—An Application of the Integrated Prototype Willingness Model. Behavioral Sciences, 15(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15010048
