# Reducing Risky Teen Cellphone Use While Driving Using Behavioral Economics, Technology, and Epidemiology

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $168,696

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 The purpose of this K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award is to enable Dr. Delgado to
gain the experience and skills necessary to become an independent investigator focused on developing and
testing novel, behavioral economic interventions for reducing injury causing behaviors in teens and young
adults. Dr. Delgado's central hypothesis is that insights from the field of behavioral economics help explain
why many behavioral injury prevention interventions are ineffective, and that leveraging these insights through
mobile technology interventions can lead to more effective reductions in injury causing behaviors. This Award
will provide four years of protected time for Dr. Delgado to acquire the skills necessary to secure independent
funding as a translational injury prevention scientist through a training plan that includes mentored research,
coursework, and guided independent study. Specifically, in the experimental study of cellphone use while
driving Dr. Delgado will: (1) Learn to apply theories and mechanisms of behavior change for injury prevention
in adolescents and young adults; (2) Develop skills for designing and refining mobile behavior change
interventions for injury prevention; and (3) Develop skills for conducting randomized trials of behavioral
economic interventions.
 Dr. Delgado and his experienced, cross-disciplinary team of mentors and advisors will test the potential for
behavioral economics to enhance self-control related injury prevention interventions by focusing on the
significant health risk behavior of texting while driving. Most of Dr. Delgado's training will be invested in
mentored research, carrying out an innovative research plan in which he will: (1) Design and iteratively refine a
theoretically guided behavioral economic intervention to reduce teen handheld cellphone use while driving; (2)
Pilot a randomized trial to determine the feasibility and acceptability of implementing this behavioral economic
intervention; and (3) Identify the measure of cellphone use while driving most associated with safety events for
use in for an R01-level trial to determine effectiveness of the piloted intervention. This work is significant since
nearly half of U.S. teens admit to texting while driving despite knowing that distracted driving is risky, leading to
over 400,000 crashes per year. Educational campaigns, pledges, and legal bans have had limited impact on
curbing this behavior. And given this, distracted driving from cellphone use has been identified as a top
emerging cause of injury in need for future research in the US Healthy People 2020 objectives. This work is
innovative as leveraging behavioral economics is a novel approach to reducing injury with the potential to be
broadly applicable across many adolescent health risk behaviors and problems of self-control.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9993126
- **Project number:** 5K23HD090272-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Mucio Delgado
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $168,696
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9993126

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9993126, Reducing Risky Teen Cellphone Use While Driving Using Behavioral Economics, Technology, and Epidemiology (5K23HD090272-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-31 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9993126. Licensed CC0.

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