(CRAIG GLOVER/QMI Agency Files)

Teens who play violent video games are more likely to become reckless drivers who crash, get stopped by police and are willing to get behind the wheel drunk, a new U.S. study says.

After studying about 5,000 girls and boys in the U.S. over four years using phone interviews, researchers found teens who played video games, such as Grand Theft Auto III, Manhunt and Spider-Man II, self-reported unsafe driving habits and rebelliousness.

"With motor vehicle accidents the No. 1 cause of adolescent deaths, popular games that increase reckless driving may constitute even more of a public health issue than the widely touted association of video games and aggression," lead author Jay Hull, of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, said in a release Wednesday.

The study is published online in the American Psychological Association's journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture.