Texting and smoking and unsafe sex and–oh! binge drinking!–go hand in hand. What causes what?
“In short, teens who [text while driving] engage in a multitude of other risky behaviors.”
So concluded Andrew Adesman, senior investigator of a study conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported in June’s Pediatrics. Adesman, who is chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, along with the researchers, fail to link cause and effect: that drinking causes or exacerbates all of the other risky behaviors they studied. While not a myth per se (although some might call it a “half-truth” because it leaves out crucial information), the omission of underlying cause makes the study pointless—unless one understands addiction.
The study found that teens who text while driving are also much ...
