Shared and distinct parental influences on teen impaired driving in rural and suburban contexts: A mixed methods study of young drivers

•Riding with an impaired driver (RWI) and driving while impaired (DWI) pose serious risks to young drivers.•This mixed methods study explored rural-suburban disparities in parent influences on youth RWI/DWI.•Curfews are a shared parental influence on RWI/DWI among rural and suburban youth.•Rural youth recalled parent modeling of DWI throughout their childhood. To explore shared and distinct parental influences on rural and suburban adolescents’ riding with an impaired driver (RWI) and driving while impaired (DWI) behaviors during high school. Participants in the NEXT Generation Health Study (NEXT) were classified into four RWI/DWI trajectory classes (i.e., Abstainer, Escalator, Decliner, Persister) which described patterns of RWI/DWI from high school to emerging adulthood. A follow-up, in-depth, qualitative interview was conducted with a purposeful selection of participants from each trajectory class between March and September 2020. Guided by Ecodevelopmental Theory, the interview included questions which explored parent-teen influences on driving and RWI/DWI. Imposition of a curfew was a shared parental influence in rural and suburban contexts. Unique to the rural context, parent modeling of RWI/DWI was described as normative and occurring since childhood. Prevention interventions targeting parent RWI/DWI may reduce their children’s risk for RWI/DWI among rural adolescents.