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ObjectiveUnintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children under 19 years of age. For preschoolers, many injuries occur in the home. Addressing this issue, this study assessed if a storybook about home safety could be effective to increase preschoolers’ safety knowledge and reduce their injury-risk behaviors.MethodsApplying a randomized controlled trial design, normally developing English speaking preschool children (3.5–5.5 years) in Southwestern Ontario Canada were randomly assigned to the control condition (a storybook about healthy eating, N = 30) or the intervention condition (a storybook about home hazards, N = 29). They read the assigned storybook with their mother for 4 weeks; time spent reading was tracked, and fidelity checks based on home visits were implemented.ResultsComparing postintervention knowledge, understanding score, and risk behaviors across groups revealed that children who received the intervention were able to identify more hazards, provide more comprehensive safety explanations, and demonstrate fewer risky behaviors compared with children in the control group (ηp2 = 0.13, 0.19, and 0.51, respectively), who showed no significant changes over time in safety knowledge, understanding, or risk behaviors. Compliance with reading the safety book and fidelity in how they did so were very good.ConclusionsA storybook can be an effective resource for educating young children about home safety and reducing their hazard-directed risk behaviors.

Purpose The current study examined the impact on children’s street crossing behaviors of not having auditory-based information about traffic when crossing streets. Method Using a fully-immersive virtual reality system, numerous indices of children’s street crossing behaviors were measured both when they had auditory-based information about traffic and when this was lacking. Results The lack of traffic sounds did not influence the inter-vehicle gap size that children crossed into but it did result in slower initiations and, ultimately, more high-risk outcomes (close calls and hits). Conclusion Traffic sounds significantly contribute to enhance children’s safety when crossing streets. Cars with reduced sounds (e.g., electric) and anything that interferes with children accessing auditory-based traffic information (e.g., wearing headphones) could increase their risk of pedestrian injury.

Objectives Much research has examined how parents manage safety issues for young children, however, little is known about how they do so in the preadolescent years when children’s demand for autonomy increases. The current study focused on youth in this transition stage (10–13 years) and examined parent–child disagreements about safety, including how parents learn of these, react to these, and resolve these (Aim 1), if the parent–child relationship or sex of the child impacts these processes (Aim 2), and the nature and reasons why children intentionally keep safety-relevant secrets from their parents (Aim 3). Methods A short-term longitudinal design was applied. Parents initially completed questionnaires and, with their child, retrospectively recalled safety disagreements. Over the next month, parents tracked safety disagreements and children tracked secrets they withheld from parents. Results The findings revealed significant gender differences: Daughters were more likely than sons to spontaneously disclose safety issues to their parents, and parents were more likely to discuss the issue and provide teaching to daughters than sons. Relationship quality emerged as an important factor, particularly for boys: A positive parent–child relationship predicted increased parental teaching in response to a safety-relevant issue for boys only. Children kept secrets from their parents about safety-relevant information in order to maintain their autonomy and independence. Conclusion Parent–child disagreements about safety are influenced by the positive nature of the parent–child relationship and differ for sons and daughters.

Supervisory neglect, like all forms of maltreatment, is a complex public health issue. There is no uniform definition of supervisory neglect and this creates challenges for measurement and identifying caregivers at risk. In this article definitional and measurement issues are discussed, as well as challenges in conceptualizing prevention. The benefits of a more comprehensive assessment approach that uses multiple and varied measures and focuses on judging supervisory capacity are elucidated. Moreover, contextualizing judgements about supervisory capacity within the broader realm of parenting competency (e.g., strengths in parenting) can elucidate the breadth and nature of interventions needed to assist the child and his/her family. We suggest that the prevention of supervisory neglect is likely to achieve the greatest success when it is placed within the broader context of child health promotion and a Public Health approach that emphasizes comprehensive, ecologically-sensitive, and systematic multi-level interventions is applied. The saying goes that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, but it may also ‘take a village to protect a child’.

Objective Unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for American children, are caused by a range of psychosocial factors, including risk behavior. One factor that may impact child risk-taking is modeling of superhuman risk-taking from superhero media, both immediately following superhero exposure and based on lifetime exposure and engagement. Methods Fifty-nine 5-year-olds were randomly assigned to view either a 13-min age-appropriate superhero television show or a comparable nonsuperhero show. After the viewing, children engaged in three risk-taking measures: (a) activity room, unsupervised play for 5 min with assortment of apparently dangerous items that might encourage child risk-taking; (b) picture sort, 10 illustrations of children in risk situations, with participant response concerning intended risk-taking in that situation; and (c) vignettes, 10 stories presenting situations with varying degrees of risk, with participant response on intended choice. Parents completed questionnaires concerning children’s long-term superhero media exposure and individual superhero engagement (e.g., if child’s most recent Halloween costume was of a superhero). Correlations and regressions evaluated effects of immediate superhero exposure, lifetime superhero exposure, and lifetime superhero engagement on children’s risk-taking. Results Mixed results emerged. Lifetime superhero exposure was significantly related to children’s risk-taking outcomes in two bivariate (vignettes and picture sort) and one multivariate (picture sort) model. Neither immediate superhero exposure nor lifetime superhero engagement was strongly related to risk-taking. Conclusions Children’s lifetime superhero exposure may influence children’s risk-taking. Given American children’s substantial media exposure, research should continue to unpack the role of superhero media on children’s unintentional injury and other health risk behaviors.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine if children's perception of peers' behavioral norms for crossing streets relates to their personal norms for doing so and if children's self-reports about crossing relates to their actual crossing in a virtual traffic situation. Method: Children (8–10 years, N = 86) completed questionnaires about peer's norms and their personal norms about crossing streets, and also reported on their recent crossing behaviors. These self-reports about crossing were then related to children's actual crossing behaviors measured using a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) system. Results: Children's perception of peers' behavioral norms for crossing related to their personal norms for doing so, and their norms related to their reports of how they have crossed in the past few weeks. When crossing virtual streets, children with higher scores on self-reports about risky crossing behaviors selected smaller (riskier) inter-vehicle gap sizes to cross into, showed less start delay (less time appraising traffic before starting), and experienced more hits. Conclusion and practical applications: Children's perception of peers' behavioral norms for crossing are relevant to their crossing behaviors and may be one way that peers elevate children's risk of pedestrian injury. Children's self-reports about crossing risk may be useful for identifying at-risk youth and strategically targeting interventions to these children.

Objective Boys experience more injuries as pedestrians than girls. The aim of this study was to compare how boys and girls cross streets in order to identify factors that differentially influence their injury risk as pedestrians. Methods Using a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) system interfaced with a 3D movement measurement system, various measures of children’s street-crossing behaviors were taken. Results At the start of the crossing, boys selected smaller (riskier) inter-vehicle gaps to cross into than girls. Subsequently, as they crossed, they showed greater attention to traffic, shorter start delay, and more evasive action than girls, which are strategies that could reduce risk as a pedestrian. Despite these efforts, however, boys experienced more hits and close calls than girls. Conclusion To enhance their safety as pedestrians, girls adopt a proactive approach and select larger inter-vehicle gaps to cross into, whereas boys apply a reactive approach aimed at managing the risk created by having selected smaller (riskier) gaps. Girls’ proactive approach yielded safer outcomes than boys’ reactive strategy.

Statement of Purpose The current study aimed to determine whether delivering framed safety messages (gain-framed, loss-framed, and no frame) in poster format reduced physical risk-taking behaviours when children were in a positive mood. Previous research has shown that when in an elevated positive mood state, children engage in more risk behaviours than when in a neutral mood state, which leads to greater risk of injury (Morrongiello et al., 2014). Research in this area is particularly important for school-aged children, who are becoming increasingly independent and more vulnerable to injury outside of the home (Morrongiello et al., 2013). Method/Approach 28 children (7–9 years old) were exposed to a message (gain-frame, loss-frame, or no frame (control) message) regarding play behaviours on a specific risk-taking measure (an obstacle course). Children’s risk-taking was measured before and after a positive mood has been induced, and the impact of framed safety messaging on risk-taking behaviours was examined. Results Results indicated the positive mood induction was successful and led to increased risk taking when participants were in a positive mood. Both gain- and loss- framed messages differentially counteracted this mood effect and led to reduced risk taking, but the loss-framed message reduced risky behaviours to a level significantly lower than the participants’ baseline risk-taking behaviours. Conclusions Results demonstrate that even in a positive mood, children can be influenced to engage in safer play behaviours with the use of message framing (particularly loss-framed messaging). Significance and Contributions to Injury and Violence Prevention Science Given that physical risk taking was mitigated by framed safety posters (particularly loss-framed posters) even when children were in a positive mood, framed posters may be a cost-effective and useful intervention in places like public parks, where children are often happy and inclined to engage in increased risk-taking.

Statement of Purpose Unintentional injuries are a serious concern for young children, frequently resulting in disability and death. Safety interventions that target the child as an agent of change are needed, particularly because parents cannot constantly supervise. The present study examined whether a storybook can educate about home hazards and reduce the hazard-directed risk behaviours of children aged 3.5 to 5.5 years. Methods Preschoolers were randomly assigned to the control condition (a storybook about healthy eating) or the intervention condition (a storybook about home hazards) and were required to read the assigned storybook with their mother for four weeks. Results Comparing children’s pre- and post-intervention knowledge and risk behaviours indicated that children in the intervention condition were able to identify more hazards, provide more comprehensive explanations, and demonstrate less risky behaviours, in comparison to those in the control group. Hence, the storybook improved both safety knowledge and behaviors. Conclusion Together, the findings suggest that a storybook can be an effective resource in educating young children about home safety and promoting safety practices that are likely to reduce risk of injury. Significance The findings indicate that engaging children in reading a storybook about home hazards with their parents can not only increase their knowledge but also reduce their hazard-directed risk behaviors at home.

Statement of Purpose Framed safety messages (gain- or loss- framed) can counteract the increase in risk taking that occurs when children are in a heightened positive mood. In previous research, framed safety messages have consisted of behaviourally targeted messages that emphasize avoiding risk behaviors leading to specific injuries and outcomes. The current study examined whether more general warning messages in framed contexts had a differential effect on reducing risk taking in children when in a heightened positive mood. Methods/Approach 39 children (7–9 years) were exposed to a safety message (gain- or loss-frame) regarding play behaviors on an obstacle course. Children’s risk-taking running the obstacle course was measured before and after a positive mood induction. Results Participants who were exposed to loss-framed safety messages in both the general and behaviorally targeted groups demonstrated a significantly lower level of risk taking compared to baseline, whereas participants who were exposed to gain-framed safety messages in both groups performed at baseline levels. Regardless of whether children were exposed to general or behaviorally specific messages, gain and loss messaging counteracted the increase in risk taking when in a positive mood, but loss messages produced greater reductions in risk taking than gain messages. Conclusion The results indicate that general messages can be as effective as behaviorally specific messages. Moreover, the loss-framed safety message had a greater effect on reducing risk-taking in children when in a heightened positive mood than the gain-framed safety message. Significance and Contributions The results suggest that placing an emphasis on specific risk-taking behaviors and outcomes is not necessary in order to reduce risk-taking behaviours in school-aged children during play situations. This makes this intervention approach feasible to apply in situations in which there are a variety of potential risk behaviors which makes targeting a specific one likely to limit effectiveness of the intervention.

OBJECTIVES Research shows that school-aged children are at high risk of pedestrian injury when they cross streets with peers. How peers exert their influence is unknown. Using a fully immersive virtual reality pedestrian environment, this study examined the impact of peers on children's pedestrian behaviors. METHODS 137 children were assigned either to a control, peer observer, or peer-safety or peer-risky modeling condition. Street-crossing behaviors were measured twice (baseline, postbaseline), with group comparisons (control vs. test condition) of postbaseline scores conducted. RESULTS Children who observed a peer modeling risky behaviors imitated this. No significant influences were found in the peer observation or safe modeling conditions. CONCLUSIONS Peers may elevate other children's risk of pedestrian injury through modeling risky crossings. Implications for prevention are discussed.

Background Everyday pain experiences (minor bumps/scrapes) are common in early childhood and create frequent opportunities for socialization of pain behaviors. Nevertheless, everyday pain during the formative toddler period has been largely overlooked. Aims The aim of the current study was to describe the frequency and nature of toddlers’ everyday pain experiences, child and parent responses, and the relationship between child characteristics (age, sex, temperament) and responses. Methods Fifty-two children aged 12–32 months and their parents were observed at an indoor play facility. Using an observational checklist, trained observers recorded children’s everyday pain incidents and associated child and parent responses. Results Overall, 101 pain incidents were observed, the majority of which evoked low levels of pain and distress, which resolved after 1 min. Pain incidents occurred at a rate of 1.02 incidents/child/hour, with 81% of children experiencing at least one incident, which is higher than previous research with preschoolers and daycare staff. Common parent responses included a range of verbal (reassurance) and nonverbal (staying closer, hugging/kissing child) behaviors. Boys were more likely to not exhibit any protective behaviors. Parents were more likely to pick up older toddlers. Conclusions Future research should examine the link between self-reported and observed parent responses to child pain in everyday and clinical contexts.

Objectives Parents play an important role in keeping their children safe. However, this becomes more difficult during preadolescence as children seek greater autonomy away from the direct supervision of adults. The current study focused on preadolescent youth (10–13 years) and examined parent–child disagreements about safety, with a focus on determining if child temperament attributes moderate the relation between how parents learn of these and resolve these disagreements. Methods A short-term longitudinal design was used. Parents and children retrospectively recalled safety disagreements together and then independently completed questionnaires about these. Parents then tracked disagreements over 1 month. Results The behavioral attributes of inhibitory control and risk-taking propensity both moderated the relationships between parental source of knowledge of safety disagreements and subsequent methods of resolution. Conclusion Safety-promotion messaging for parents of preadolescents may need to be tailored based on child attributes to maximize effectiveness.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for young children and many result from them doing injury-risk behaviors in the home. There are a number of questionnaire measures of injury-risk behaviors for children 2 years and older, but none that apply during infancy. The current study addressed this gap. Parents completed the new Infant/Toddler-Injury Behavior Questionnaire when infants were pre-mobile (sitting independently) and mobile (walking independently), with diary measures of injuries and risk behaviors taken continuously throughout this period. Validated questionnaire measures of chaos and routines in the home were also completed. The IT-IBQ showed positive associations with injuries, risk behaviors, and degree of chaos in the home, and was negatively associated with family routines. The results provide evidence for criterion validity and suggest that the new measure holds promise as one that can aid in identifying infants who are likely to engage in injury-risk behaviors.

In most industrialized countries, injuries are the leading cause of death for children 1 through 18 years of age. For infants, many injuries occur in the home when they are acquiring new motor milestones. Thus, as infants' motor competencies change with development, creating increasing opportunities for them to interact with hazards, parent safety strategies need to adapt in synchrony in order to sustain a safe ecological niche and prevent injuries. The present study examined parent safety practices when infants were pre-mobile (i.e., capable of sitting independently) and mobile (i.e., capable of walking independently), with the goal being to examine how parents alter these practices in the context of changes in infant motor capabilities, what motivates these parenting changes, and how well they work to prevent injuries. For pre-mobile infants, parents often used devices to constrain their infants' movements and they did so primarily for convenience; mobile infants were seldom constrained. Supervision was a safety strategy applied at both stages, but parents maintained greater proximity for pre-mobile than mobile infants. Environmental modifications were also used for mobile infants. Parental supervision was negatively associated with injuries in the preceding month, whereas environmental modifications were positively associated with injuries. Parents at both stages rated their infants' behaviors as highly predictable but expected them to become less predictable in the near future. However, they also anticipated reducing supervision and increasing teaching during this timeframe. Implications of these findings for injury prevention are discussed.

Purpose The current study examined how wearing a heavy backpack influences children’s street crossing behaviors. Method Using a fully-immersive virtual reality system, numerous indices of children’s street crossing behaviors (7−13 years) were measured both when wearing a heavy backpack (12% of bodyweight) and when not doing so. Results A heavy backpack slowed walking speed. However, any potential increase in risk from this was counteracted by compensatory actions that included: the selection of larger inter-vehicle gaps to cross into; greater efficiency in initiating the crossing (reduced start delay); and increased walking speed when in the path of the approaching vehicle. Ultimately, there was no greater risk outcome (time left to spare) compared to children’s performance when not wearing a backpack. There were no age or sex differences. Conclusion When tested in ways that preserve perceptual-motor coupling in traffic situations, children strategically responded to maintain their safety despite wearing a heavy backpack that slowed their walking speed. Previous conclusions that a backpack increases pedestrian injury risk is likely an artifact of the testing method used.

Objective The current study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate the S.A.F.E.R. Near Water program, an evidence-based and theory-driven intervention targeting parent beliefs relevant to keeping children safe around water. Methods A nonrandomized trial was conducted. Parents with children aged two through five years who were enrolled in lessons either at a public or private swim organization in Ontario, Canada were recruited and nonrandomly assigned to either an Intervention (N = 92) or Control (N = 150) condition. All parents completed the same questionnaire measures two times over the course of their child’s swim lesson session period, once at the beginning (preintervention) and again at the end (postintervention; approximately 9–15 weeks later). Questionnaires assessed parents’ perceptions related to supervision, child drowning risk, water safety, and optimism bias. Parents in the Intervention condition participated in S.A.F.E.R. Near Water, an educational water safety program comprising in-person seminars, informational handouts, and posters. Results The S.A.F.E.R. Near Water program was associated with increased knowledge in targeted areas and effectively communicated most of the intended messages. A series of primary regression analyses revealed that parents receiving S.A.F.E.R. Near Water demonstrated improvements in: beliefs about the value of supervision; judgments about children’s swim skills and drowning risk; and perceptions related to swim lessons and children’s supervision needs (sr2 range: 0.22–0.38). Conclusion These findings provide support for the feasibility and usefulness of a multifaceted, parent-focused, educational program delivered alongside children’s swim programming to promote closer adult supervision of children around water.

Objective Pedestrian injury is a leading cause of injury-related mortality for children. This pilot randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of a training program to teach where and how to cross safely. Methods Using fully immersive virtual reality technology, 142 children 7-10 years of age were recruited, with 130 completing crossing measures before (pretest) and immediately after (posttest) training. Training comprised 1.5 hr, was tailored to each child's performance over trials, and focused on either where to cross (n = 44 children completed testing) or how to cross safely (n = 43); corresponding control groups comprised 22 and 21 children, respectively. Following training, children in the intervention groups completed additional tasks to test conceptual knowledge and generalization of learning. Children in the control groups spent the same time as those in training groups but played a video game that used the same game controller but provided no training in street crossing. Results The primary outcomes were errors in crossing at posttest, controlling for pretest error scores. Children in the intervention group made from 75% to 98% fewer errors at posttest than control children for all pedestrian safety variables related to where and how to cross safely, with effect sizes (incidence rate ratios) varying between 0.02 and 0.25. They also showed a generalization of what they had learned and applied this knowledge to novel posttraining situations. Conclusion Training within a virtual pedestrian environment can successfully improve children's conceptual understanding and crossing behaviors for both where and how to cross streets safely.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine gender differences in children's hazard-directed behaviors when the parent was absent and determine whether parent reactions when present differentially influences boys' and girls' subsequent behaviors. METHOD: Children and parents were video recorded in their home when a contrived burn hazard ('Gadget') was within view and reach of the child and the parent was sometimes present and absent. Videos were coded for teaching- and discipline-focused reactions by parents when children approached the Gadget in the parent's presence and children's hazard-directed behaviors when the parent was absent. Data were gathered monthly for a period of up to 6 months. RESULTS: Multilevel regression analyses examining temporal relationships between parents' reactions (teaching, discipline) and children's hazard-directed behaviors when the parent was absent revealed significant gender differences. For boys, reductions in hazard-directed behaviors over time were predicted from high teaching or low discipline reactions, with low teaching and high discipline reactions maintaining injury-risk behaviors over time. For girls, reductions in hazard-directed behaviors over time were predicted from low teaching or high discipline reactions, with high teaching and low discipline reactions maintaining injury-risk behaviors over time. CONCLUSION: To moderate young boys' injury-risk behaviors, caregivers should avoid frequent discipline-focused reactions in favor of frequent teaching when the child engages in injury-risk behaviors. For girls, however, frequent discipline-focused reactions reduced injury-risk behaviors over time more effectively than frequent teaching-focused reactions that sustained girls' interest in the hazard. Implications for injury prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record Language: en

Objective Because young children are often injured in their homes, identifying ways to motivate caregivers to engage in practices that promote children’s safety is important. The current RCT addresses this issue, with the primary aim being to evoke improvements in caregivers’ supervision of young children in the home. The current study used a group delivery in a community setting and assessed program impact, feasibility, and acceptance of the Supervising for Home Safety (SHS) program ‘“ a previously proven-effective program when delivered to caregivers individually (Morrongiello, Sandomierski, Zdzieborski, & McCollum, 2012; Morrongiello, Zdzieborski, Sandomierski, & Munroe, 2013). Methods Caregivers of 2–5 year olds were randomised to receive either the SHS or an attention-matched control program. Programs were delivered in a community centre using a group format (~10 per group), with delivery based on a manual. Fidelity checks were conducted weekly. Results In the SHS group only, there were increases from baseline to post-intervention in: beliefs about - children’s vulnerability to injury, caregiver preventability of injuries, and self-efficacy to do so; readiness for change in supervision; and watchful supervision. Face-to-face recruitment by staff at community organisations proved most successful. Caregivers’ satisfaction ratings were high, as was caregiver engagement (95% completed at least 7 of the 9 sessions). Conclusion The SHS program can be delivered to groups of caregivers in community settings, is positively received by caregivers, and produces desirable changes that can be expected to improve caregivers’ home safety practices. Effects were as good as when the program was delivered individually. Significance and Contribution The SHS program is the only program proven to improve caregivers’ supervision of young children in the home. The multiple delivery formats increases the implementation options and potential applicability (e.g., home visiting, parenting groups). Broad dissemination of the program is the future focus.

Purpose This intervention study examined whether exposure to a peer safety norm could counteract the increase in risk taking children show when in an elevated positive mood state. Methods Risk taking (intentions, behaviours) was measured in a neutral and positive (induced experimentally) mood state. Before completing the tasks in a positive mood, 120 children 7–10 years were exposed to either a safety norm or a control audio. Results The control audio had no effect on risk taking: children showed an increase in risk taking and intentions when in a positive compared to neutral mood, replicating past research. In contrast, exposure to the safety norm counteracted this effect: children actually showed a decrease in risk taking and intentions when in a positive compared to neutral mood. Conclusion Manipulating children’s exposure to social norms can be an effective strategy for reducing injury-risk behaviours even when they are in an elevated positive mood state. Significance This study is an important step towards identifying strategies to reduce risky play behaviours that can lead to injury in school-aged children. The influence of other children, as well as elevated mood, have both been identified as substantial risk factors for injury during the school years, so examining how peer relationships can help to mitigate the increase in risk taking when children are in a positive mood is important. The manipulation of children’s perceptions of peer social norms is a prevention strategy that can be applied across a broad age range and to numerous situations where risk behaviours are likely to lead to injury (e.g., sports). The current findings, therefore, have important implications for preventing childhood injuries.

Statement of purpose Most research exploring parental safety practices has focused on parents of children who are two years and older. Surprisingly little is known about home safety practices used for infants, and more specifically how these may change following the transition across developmental milestones. The aim of the study was to identify social-cognitive factors that affect home safety practices parents’ may use as precautionary measures to prevent six types of common injuries to infants (burns, cuts, drowning, falls, poisoning, and strangulation/suffocation/choking), and to determine if these may vary depending on an infant’s level of motor development. Methods Infants were recruited when they were pre-mobile (i.e., sitting independently) and then tracked until they could walk independently (i.e., taking at least three steps). A structured interview was conducted with parents on two separate occasions, when the infant was pre-mobile and again when they were mobile, to examine participants’ use of home safety practices. The interview requested that parents indicate which of 17 in-home safety practices they implement as a precautionary measure to prevent six types of common childhood injuries, and follow-up ratings assessed the social-cognitive factors (severity, benefit, effort, vulnerability, social norms) that motivated each practice. Results Results indicated that parent’s engagement in safety precautions varied significantly with mobility level and as a function of injury type. In addition, the social-cognitive factors that influence parental home safety practices differ for each type of injury and vary with the child’s level of mobility development. Significance Thus, intervention programs that aim to reduce different types of injury by promoting the use of parent safety practices will need to target varied social-cognitive factors. It will be important to structure prevention strategies around a child’s level of motor-development and to consider the social-cognitive factors related to particular types of injury and their perceived severity.

Teaching safety rules is a common practice but little is known about this. Fifty-eight parents of children 2 to 2.5 or 3 to 3.5 years of age reported on the safety rules they have, the factors that prompted these rules, the strategies used to teach these rules, and how they react to noncompliance with these rules. Results revealed more safety rules for children in the older group than the younger group, and greater emphasis on teaching the rule than teaching the basis for the rule at younger than older ages. Only about half the rules restricted the child from doing the risk behavior completely, whereas the remaining rules allowed for the behavior under certain circumstances. Parents assumed safety rules would prevent injuries and mostly implemented rules in reaction to evidence of injury risk. Parents equated noncompliance with not understanding, assuming that if children understood they would comply. Implications for childhood injury risk are discussed.

Objective This study examined whether exposure to a safety norm could counteract the increase in risk taking children show when in an elevated positive mood state. Methods Risk taking (intentions, behaviors) was measured in a neutral and positive (induced experimentally) mood state. Before completing the tasks in a positive mood, 120 children 7-10 years were exposed to either a safety norm or a control audio. Results The control audio had no effect: children showed an increase in risk taking and intentions when in a positive mood compared with a neutral mood, replicating past research. In contrast, exposure to the safety norm counteracted this effect: children showed a decrease in risk taking and intentions when in a positive mood compared with a neutral mood. Conclusion Manipulating children's exposure to social norms can be an effective strategy for reducing injury-risk behaviors even when they are in an elevated positive mood state.

Objective Research on children's risk of injury reveals that parent and child factors are often interrelated. This study examined relations between children's risk taking, parent appraisal of this risk taking, and children's rate of injury in youth 8 and 9 years old. Methods Responses to questionnaires and laboratory tasks were used to examine whether extent of consistency in children's physical risk taking related to mothers' accuracy in predicting children's risk behaviors, and if mothers' accuracy scores, in turn, related to rate of unintentional injury for their school-age children. Results Child consistency in risk taking predicted parental accuracy in judging children's risk taking, and degree and direction of accuracy predicted children's injury rates. Conclusions Parents' judgments about their children's likelihood of risk taking are influenced by children's behavioral consistency and have implications for children's frequency of injury.

Children who engage in physical risk taking experience more injuries. In the present study children 7–12 years completed laboratory tasks and standardized questionnaires to explore inter-relations between measures of risk taking and to determine if the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) is a valid index of physical risk taking. Emotion regulation skills also were assessed to determine if poorer skills are associated with greater risk taking, and what measures of risk taking show these relations. Results revealed that general measures of risk taking propensity predicted both BART performance and physical risk taking. Similarly, poorer emotion regulation skills were associated with greater risk taking scores for both the BART and physical risk taking task. Measures of physical risk taking related to one another, however, none of these scores related to performance on the BART. Implications for measuring physical risk taking and exploring emotional links to risk taking in future research are discussed.

The process of integrating visual information and planning a safe crossing is cognitively demanding for many young children. We assessed relations between traffic characteristics, aspects of children's executive functioning (EF), and pedestrian behavior, with the aim being to determine whether well-developed EF would predict safer pedestrian behaviors beyond the contributions of child demographic and traffic environment factors. Using the pretend road method, we studied a sample of 83 children aged 6-9 in a series of 5 crossing trials beside a real road in response to actual traffic conditions. Traffic characteristics and pedestrian behaviors were observed and measured across crossing trials. Both traffic characteristics and EF, most notably cognitive efficiency, were strongly related to children's pedestrian crossing behaviors. Traffic characteristics were also found to interact with children's ability to monitor their crossing performance. Examining developmental influences in pedestrian injury etiology broadens researchers' knowledge of and ability to prevent injuries by moving beyond describing what happens to children and examining why pedestrian injuries occur.

This study compared reactions of mothers and fathers to the risk taking behavior of sons and daughters. Mother–father pairs (N = 52) imagined their 2-year-old boy or girl behaving in risky ways in common home situations that could, and did, result in injury. Emotional and parenting reactions to the behaviors were assessed before and after injury. Results revealed few differences between mothers' and fathers' reactions but reactions varied for sons versus daughters. Parent reactions to risk taking by sons focused on discipline but reactions to the same behaviors by daughters focused on safety. Mothers, in particular, reacted to sons with anger and daughters with disappointment and surprise. Parents attributed risk taking to personality for sons but situational factors for daughters, and judged daughters could be taught to comply with safety rules more than sons. Overall, results suggest that parents socialize boys and girls differently regarding risk taking.

This study explored whether elementary-school children show consistency in risk taking across two tasks that tap different domains, a balance beam task and an Iowa gambling task. Children 7–12 years of age completed these tasks, along with a measure of sensation seeking. Exploring relations across measures revealed independence in children’s performance on each task, suggesting domain specificity in children’s risk taking decision making. Sensation seeking scores positively correlated with physical risk taking on the beam task but did not relate to risk taking on the gambling task. The pattern of these results suggests that children’s risk taking is domain specific, with sensation seeking relating to some aspects of risk taking but not others. Implications for future research are discussed.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for young children. Although much research has identified risk factors for injury, integrating these findings into conceptual models that can guide prevention efforts has been limited. In this paper, we draw on empirical evidence to develop a conceptual model of injury risk and highlight the important role that causal attributions play in explaining parents’ decisions about whether or not to implement safety practices to prevent childhood injury. Implications of the model for injury-prevention programming are discussed.

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of pediatric mortality in most of the developed world. Contributions from epidemiology, pubic health, and engineering perspectives have yielded important insights into risk and protective factors, but recent calls for research stress the need for behavioral science to advance understanding and prevention of childhood injuries. Limiting its focus to children younger than 13 years, this article identifies 4 gaps in the literature on childhood injury and discusses how developmental science might address these research needs by (a) applying developmental theory and conceptual approaches to understand the processes by which children are injured, (b) examining the role of developmental processes in injury risk, (c) identifying the bases for group differences in injury related to gender and cultural influences, and (d) exploring how family processes and relationships affect injury risk.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children. Prior research has implicated both child behavioral attributes and parent supervisory patterns as risk factors. The present study assessed interactions between these two risk factors and determined whether supervision moderates the relation between child attributes and injury. Mothers completed questionnaire measures of child attributes and supervisory patterns and also recorded how they supervised their young child (2-5 years) at home on each of 10 randomly selected days within a 3-week period. Results provide support for the moderating effect of supervision: Supervision interacted with some child attributes to elevate children's risk of medically attended injury and with other attributes to decrease injury risk. Implications for preventing childhood injuries are discussed.

Objectives: To draw on empirical findings of the psychological factors that cause elementary-school children to engage in risky play behaviors that can lead to injury, with the aim of developing an integrative model that can support intervention-program planning. Methods: An extensive review of literature on this topic was conducted, determinants of risk taking for which there was empirical support were identified, and results were synthesized to create an integrative model of children’s risk taking. Results: Research on risk taking in children is limited, but the findings support the importance of examining child, family and socio-environmental factors to understand children’s risk-taking behaviors. Conclusions: Development of a model outlining the determinants of risk behaviors can provide a foundation for initiatives that aim to reduce such behaviors and prevent childhood injuries.

School-age children's self-reported risk compensation (greater risk-taking when wearing safety gear compared to when not doing so) was investigated using 6 common play situations. Children responded to hypothetical scenarios by rating intended risk-taking when wearing safety gear and not doing so, and by providing explanations for their behavior. Results revealed greater risk-taking scores under gear than no-gear conditions for every situation, indicating risk compensation operated for every activity. There was no significant variation in risk compensation with age or sex. Rationales for engaging in greater risk-taking when wearing safety gear revealed that the children believed wearing safety gear made them invulnerable to any degree of injury, protected them from serious injury, and resulted in them somehow being more competent to perform a higher-risk activity. Implications for childhood injury prevention are discussed.

PURPOSE: To examine how risk of injury can arise for child pedestrians. METHODS: Using a highly immersive virtual reality system interfaced with a 3-D movement measurement system, younger (M = 8 years) and older (M = 10 years) children's crossing behaviors were measured under conditions that introduced variation in vehicle speed, distance, and intervehicle gaps. RESULTS: Children used distance cues in deciding when to cross; there were no age or sex differences. This increased risk of injury in larger intervehicle gaps because they started late and did not monitor traffic or adjust walking speed as they crossed. In contrast, injury risk in smaller intervehicle gaps of equal risk (i.e., same time to contact) occurred because crossing behavioral adjustments (starting early, increasing walking speed while crossing) were not sufficient. CONCLUSIONS: Dependence on distance cues increases children's risk of injury as pedestrians when crossing in a variety of traffic situations. Language: en

This study examined mothers' teaching about home-safety issues to 24–30 month and 36–42 month old children, explored the relationship of teaching strategies to parenting styles, and assessed how these factors are related to children's risk of unintentional injury. A structured interview assessed home-safety issues relevant to falls, burns, cuts, poisoning, and suffocation/strangulation/choking. Mothers identified safety issues relevant to her child, and indicated the type and extent to which she utilized teaching as a strategy to address each safety issue. Standardized questionnaires provided information about parenting style and children's history of injuries. Results revealed that mothers' endorsements of home-safety issues did not vary with child age, mothers used teaching to manage safety issues for all types of injuries, and type of teaching strategy (explanations, rules, behavior modification) varied with parenting style. Greater use of explaining and less rule usage was linked to permissive parenting; these teaching strategies predicted children's medically-attended injury among highly-permissive mothers. Thus, teaching about safety is a common risk-management strategy mothers use to address hazards in the home. However, the specific type of teaching strategy used varies with parenting style, which has implications for children's risk of injury.

Objective There were two objectives in this research. First, to develop and evaluate the criterion validity of a questionnaire measure of sensation seeking in children, by examining how scores on this instrument relate to various indices of physical risk taking in children 7–12 years of age. Second, to develop both a parent-report and child-report version of the instrument. Methods Drawing on the literature, items tapping five potential aspects of sensation seeking were developed, with parents and children responding to comparable items. For each of these five subscales, internal reliability estimates were computed separately for the parent-report and child-report versions. To establish criterion validity, subscale scores were related to three indices of children's risk taking commonly used in research: actual risk taking, intentions-to-risk take, self-reports about risk taking on a standardized questionnaire. Results On both the child-report and parent-report versions, the same three of the five subscales yielded acceptable internal reliability scores and significantly related to the various indices of risk taking. Conclusions This new measure adequately assesses aspects of sensation seeking relevant to children's risk taking. Because individuals high in sensation seeking engage in greater risk taking and are at increased risk of injury, this instrument may prove particularly useful to aid in identifying those children most likely to engage in injury-risk behaviors so that targeted interventions can be applied to this group.

Many injuries occur to school-age children when they are allowed independence in decisions about risk taking during play. The present study examined the influence of child attributes (sensation seeking, typical emotional responses in risk situations) and social-situational context (peer presence) on risk taking. Children in the Experimental Group made decisions about risk taking with an unknown same-sex peer present and watching, while those in an age and sex-matched Control Group made decisions without a peer present. Results revealed that children who were high in sensation seeking and typically experienced excitement more than fear in risk situations engaged in greater risk taking. The presence of an observing peer, even though the peer was unknown to the child and said nothing, also was associated with greater risk taking. A regression analysis indicated that risk taking was predicted both from child attributes (sensation seeking) and emotion-based (fear) factors. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the role of caregiver supervision in child-injury risk, with attention given to definitional and methodological issues and outlining important questions to be addressed in future research. METHODS: Analysis, synthesis, and critique of existing literature. RESULTS: Comparisons across studies are difficult because of insufficient specificity regarding what constitutes supervision. Hence, a multi-dimensional definition of supervision is developed based on the literature. Numerous issues arise when attempting to measure supervision and these are extensively discussed, along with reporting on the recent development of two questionnaire measures of supervision (Beliefs About Supervision Questionnaire and Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire) that have shown good validity and hold promise for addressing the problem of measuring caregiver supervision in reliable and valid ways. A review of the findings on relations between supervision and child-injury risk reveals that many substantive questions remain unanswered. A number of recommendations for future research are given and a conceptual model is presented that focuses attention on the need for research that examines how factors interact to influence child-injury risk. This model has relevance not only for research but also for prevention and serves to emphasize the complementary nature of environment-oriented and person-oriented approaches to child-injury prevention. CONCLUSION: Direct evidence linking supervision to child-injury risk is scarce and many important questions remain unanswered. Based on the conceptual model presented, in future research it is important to examine how supervision interacts with other key factors to influence children's risk of injury.

This study examined the contribution of cognitive and emotion-based factors in predicting school-age children's risk-taking decisions when the social–situational context did, and did not, pressure for risk-taking. Using drawings of play situations that depicted three possible paths of travel that varied in injury risk and pitted convenience (length of path) against level of risk (e.g., shortest path was most risky), we explored children's appraisals of danger and injury severity (i.e., cognitive measures) and anticipated fear and excitement (i.e., emotion measures) for each possible path of travel. Children also indicated which path they would take and gave a justification for this decision. Subsequently, they were informed of information that threatened loss of a desired goal unless one of the more convenient (faster), risky paths was selected. Children then repeated their path selections and the cognitive and emotion appraisals. When the situation pressured for greater risk-taking to attain a desired goal, children endorsed greater risk-taking the majority of the time, with convenience being the most frequently cited reason for this decision. Regression analyses indicated that both cognitive and emotion-based measures contributed to predict risk-taking decisions in both social–situational contexts. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

J'ai identifie les facteurs qui interviennent dans les decisions reliees au risque et examine en particulier la prise de risque chez des dyades composees d'enfants qui font figure de meilleurs amis. Nous avons montre individuellement a chacun des enfants des dessins qui representaient des situations de jeux s'accompagnant des differents parcours possibles quant au degre de risque. Les enfants ont note leur niveau d'experience avec ces activites, ont attribue un score au plaisir et au danger associes a chacun des parcours proposes, ont indique le parcours qu'ils choisiraient ainsi que les raisons motivant leur choix; ils ont egalement repondu a des questions sur le choix que ferait leur meilleur ami et le parcours que chacun de leurs parents preconiserait. Par la suite, une seance simulee pendant laquelle les participants tentaient d'influencer leurs pairs a ete mise en scene; dans le cadre de cette seance, un des membres de la dyade tentait de convaincre son meilleur ami de choisir un autre parcours. Subsequemment, les enfants ont fait un choix definitif parmi les parcours proposes. Plus une activite etait consideree comme agreable par les enfants, plus la prise de risque etaient grande. La perception du danger etait correlee de facon negative avec les decisions concernant la prise de risque. Les scores attribues chez les garcons au plaisir etaient correles positivement avec les decisions supposant la prise de risque. Les filles optaient pour des parcours qui correspondaient a ce qu'elles croyaient etre les choix que favoriseraient leurs parents. La prise de risque par les meilleurs amis etait eminemment semblable. Lorsque des differences etaient observees, les meilleurs amis parvenaient a persuader leur pair en deux fois moins de temps que les autres. Le taux de reussite etait correle de maniere positive avec la qualite des amities.

A scenario methodology in which mothers imagined themselves and their school-age children in different home situations was used to examine mothers' reactions to sons and daughters when the children were misbehaving in ways that could, and sometimes did, result in injuries. Prior to injury, mothers predominantly expressed anger to sons and disappointment to daughters, focusing primarily on safety issues in response to daughters' misbehavior and discipline issues in response to sons' misbehavior. Once an injury resulted, mothers became concerned about their children, but the degree of concern was greater for injuries to daughters than to sons. Sons' risky misbehavior was attributed predominantly to nonmodifiable characteristics, whereas daughters' risky misbehavior was attributed to factors that a parent could expect to influence. Consistent with these attributions, mothers advocated active injury-prevention approaches to prevent injury recurrence to daughters, but did not believe that much else could be done to prevent injury recurrence to sons. Generally, the pattern of results support the notion that mothers expect more risky behavior of sons than of daughters, are more concerned about injuries to daughters than sons, and believe they can have greater influence on the risk-taking behavior of daughters than sons. Implications of these results for understanding gender differences in children's risk-taking and injuries are discussed.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine how crossing under time pressure influences the pedestrian behaviors of children and adults. METHODS : Using a highly immersive virtual reality system interfaced with a 3D movement measurement system, various indices of children's and adults' crossing behaviors were measured under time-pressure and no time-pressure conditions. RESULTS : Pedestrians engaged in riskier crossing behaviors on time-pressure trials as indicated by appraising traffic for a shorter period before initiating their crossing, selecting shorter more hazardous temporal gaps to cross into, and having the car come closer to them (less time to spare). There were no age or sex differences in how time pressure affected crossing behaviors. CONCLUSIONS : The current findings indicate that, at all ages, pedestrians experience greater exposure to traffic dangers when they cross under time pressure. Language: en

Objective To examine whether children engage in greater risk taking when in a positive versus neutral mood state, and whether positive urgency trait relates to risk taking. Methods Positive mood in 7–10year-old children was induced experimentally, and children’s risk-taking intentions and actual behaviors were measured when the child was in a positive and neutral mood state. Results Within-person comparisons revealed that children showed greater risk-taking intentions and actual risk behaviors when in a positive mood state compared with a neutral one. Positive urgency was associated with greater risk taking when in a positive mood state, and this effect was stronger in the actual risk taking than intentions to risk take task. Conclusions Mood state affects children’s risk taking. Positive mood is associated with greater risk taking in elementary-school children, and those high in positive urgency are especially likely to show this effect. Implications for injury prevention are discussed.

Children ages 6, 8, and 10 years were given tasks designed to assess their beliefs about risk of injury from activities. Children were asked to appraise the risk of injury for boys and girls engaging in various play behaviors and to judge the sex of the character in stories about children engaging in activities that result in injuries. Results revealed gender biases in children's appraisals of injury risk: Both boys and girls rated boys as having a lower likelihood of injury than girls even though the boys and girls were engaging in the exact same activities. Children also showed higher accuracy in identifying the sex of the character in stories of boys' injuries than girls' injuries, and accuracy improved with the participant's age. Overall, the results indicate that by the age of 6 years children already have differential beliefs about injury vulnerability for boys and girls. Although boys routinely experience more injuries than girls, children rate girls as having a greater risk of injury than boys. With increasing age, school-age children develop a greater awareness of the ways in which boys and girls differ in risk-taking activities that lead to injury outcomes.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of childhood mortality beyond 1 year of age. Although boys engage in more risk taking and experience more injuries than girls, there is relatively little known about whether parents socialize boys and girls differently with respect to risk taking. The aim in the present study was to examine mothers' and fathers' communications to sons and daughters during both a free-play episode and their teaching the child a playground behavior (going down a firehouse-type pole) that posed some threat to safety because of the child's developmental status. The results revealed that mothers and fathers responded similarly to each other, but differently to sons and daughters. Coding of verbalizations revealed that sons received more directives, fewer explanations, and more questions communicating information about how to perform the pole task than daughters. Coding of physical contact revealed that parents applied more pressure to sons than daughters to attempt the pole task without physical assistance and provided more spontaneous physical assistance to daughters than sons, although there were no sex differences in children's playground skills or their abilities to complete the task independently. Coding of the free-play episode yielded results consistent with those from the teaching session. The results suggest that in the course of routine parent–child interactions, parents communicate to young children in ways that may promote greater risk taking by boys than girls and greater perceived injury vulnerability among girls than boys.

Injuries are the leading cause of death during childhood. Although many injuries to toddlers occur when children are at home and being supervised by caregivers, there has been little research examining how parents respond to children approaching injury-risk hazards. In the present study mothers and their toddlers were unobtrusively videotaped as they waited in an office containing a number of contrived hazards that could result in injury to the child. From the video records we examined when mothers attended to hazards (before or after the child approached the hazard), what they said or did (remove hazard, redirect child- verbally or physically), and children's responses to their mother's efforts to redirect them away from injury hazards. Other factors that were examined as potential influences on parents' responses included the child's injury history, the parent's report of the child's typical level of risk taking, and the child's level of receptive language development. Boys were more likely than girls to approach injury-risk hazards and were more likely immediately to touch or retrieve the item; frequency of touching hazards positively correlated with mothers' reports of children's risk taking and injury histories. Mothers used more, and more effortful, redirection strategies for boys, and boys were less compliant than girls in response to their mother's efforts to redirect them from hazards.

Objective: Assessed for age and sex differences in school-age children's reporting of injury-risk behaviors, ratings of injury-risk in various play situations, attributions for injuries (self, other, bad luck), and beliefs about their vulnerability to injury in comparison to their peers (more, less, comparable vulnerability). Methods: We used a structured interview and drawings that depicted children showing wary or confident facial expressions when engaged in injury-risk play activities. Results: Children's reported risk taking could be predicted from their risk appraisals, beliefs about the likelihood of injury, and attributions of injuries to bad luck, and these factors resulted in 80% correct assignment of cases by sex in a discriminant analysis. The wary affect display resulted in higher injury-risk ratings than the confident display, with this effect being greater for girls than boys. Conclusions: Cognitive-based factors differentiate boys from girls and contribute to sex differences in children's injury-risk behaviors.