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Unintentional injury represents a significant health threat to children, and infancy marks a particularly vulnerable stage. This multi-method study (questionnaire, diary) measured parents' (N = 143) use of three popular home-safety practices (teaching about safety, environment modification to reduce access to hazards, supervision) and child injury rates at two stages of motor development during infancy (sitting, walking). Associations between these three safety practices and parental beliefs (protectiveness needed, perceived benefits of the child experiencing minor injuries) were examined, as was the effectiveness of these three practices to prevent injury. Results revealed that different parental beliefs were associated with implementing different safety strategies at each motor development stage. Strategies were differentially effective depending on mobility status of the infant, with supervision being the only strategy that was effective to prevent injury at both motor development stages. Implications for developing safety messages to promote parents' injury-prevention strategies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Pedestrian injury is a leading contributor to childhood deaths. This study compared the crossing behaviors of children with adults when crossing in virtual single-lane vs. two-lane traffic conditions. Method Using a fully immersive virtual reality system, children 7–10 years and adults crossed streets with traffic in one lane (near lane) or in two lanes (near and far lane) with 0 offset so cars from opposing directions arrived at the child's crossing line at the same time. On each trial, pedestrians made a decision on when to cross and then completed the crossing, with measures of attention and crossing behaviors automatically recorded by the system as they did so. Results In comparison to crossing a single lane of traffic, crossing two-lane roads increased injury risk for all pedestrians, though children experienced significantly greater risk than adults. Children predominantly crossed by stopping before entering the far lane, whereas adults showed greater synchronization of self-movement to traffic flow and more often crossed both lanes without stopping. Conclusions Children experience more high-risk outcomes than adults when crossing single-lane roads. Crossing two-lane roads elevates risk for pedestrians of both ages, though this risk is significantly greater for child than adult pedestrians. The predominant strategy used to cross two lanes of traffic shows significant developmental changes. Implications for injury prevention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Unintentional poisoning in the home is a risk for children. Over-the-counter medicinal products in child-resistant containers (CRC) are common causes of pediatric poisoning. The current study examined children's abilities to open three types of CRC mechanisms (twist, flip, and push) and corresponding control containers, comparing their ability to do so spontaneously and after explicit modeling. The study also examined if inhibitory control (IC) was associated with children's overall score for spontaneous openings. Method Children 5–8 years old were randomly assigned to one of three mechanism conditions (between-participants factor): twist , flip , and push , with each child experiencing both a risk and a control container (within-participants factor) having that mechanism. Children were first left alone with a container (measures : engagement with container, spontaneous opening) for up to 2 min and subsequently observed an adult explicitly model opening the container before the child was asked to do so (measure : opening after modeling). Results Children were more engaged with and likely to spontaneously open control containers than CRCs, though some (4%–10%) also opened CRCs. After modeling, significantly more children opened each of the three types of CRCs, with nearly all children opening the push mechanism CRC. IC positively predicted children being more engaged with and spontaneously opening more containers. Conclusions Implications for improving pediatric poison prevention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Injury as pedestrians is a leading contributor to childhood deaths. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Safe Peds , a fully immersive virtual reality training program to teach children when to cross street safely, with the focus on a number of foundational skills and practicing these in traffic situations of varying complexity. Methods Children 7–10 years old were randomly assigned to a control (N  =   31) or intervention (N  =   26) group. Eligibility criteria included English speaking and typically developing. Testing took place on campus. All children completed pre- and post-testing measures, with those in the intervention group receiving training in between. Training comprised 1 session with 3 phases for a total of up to 1.5 hr and was tailored to each child's performance over trials. On each trial, children decided when to cross and fully executed this crossing, with measures automatically taken by the system as they did so. Results Negative binomial regression and analysis of covariance tests were applied, predicting post-test scores while controlling for pre-test scores, age, and sex. The intervention was effective in improving children's street crossing skills, including stopping and checking skills (stop at the curb, look left/right/left, check for traffic before crossing the yellow line), and choosing safe inter-vehicle gaps. Children in the control group did not show significant improvements in any crossing skills. Conclusions The Safe Peds program effectively teaches children skills to support their deciding when to safely cross in a variety of traffic situations. Implications for pedestrian injury are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective How youth think about injury risk can affect their decisions about whether to engage in behaviors that can lead to injury. Appraisals also influence the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), which occur in approximately 20% of children after a medically treated injury. The current study examined how the injury appraisals of youth are associated with the development of PTSS post-skateboarding injury, and if PTSS or perceived benefits of the sport are also associated with youths' intentions to return to the sport. Method One hundred three youth who had a medically treated skateboarding injury within the last year provided survey data on injury appraisals, PTSS, the benefits of skateboarding, and intentions to return to the sport. Results A two-stage moderated statistical mediation path model was specified. In the first stage, there was a positive relationship between pain at injury and PTSS, which was attenuated by the moderator, perceived bad luck. PTSS fully mediated the association between perceived pain at the time of injury and intentions to return to skateboarding. In the second stage of the mediation model, the moderator perceived benefits of skateboarding, reversed the negative relationship between PTSS and intentions to return to skateboarding. Conclusions Skateboarders are a group at risk for injury that can lead to PTSS, and they also are likely to return to the sport despite PTSS. This research identifies factors that impact the decision to return to skateboarding after injury. Limitations of the study and implications for mental health support and injury prevention are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

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. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

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. (Contains 4 tables.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Two studies examined the impact of temporal synchrony on infants' learning of and memory for sight-sound pairs. Findings indicated that 7-month-olds had no difficulty learning auditory-visual pairs regardless of temporal synchrony, remembering them 10 minutes later and 1 week later. Three-month-olds showed poorer learning in no-synchrony than in synchrony conditions and remembered pairs from only synchrony conditions 1 week later. Seven-month-olds revealed generalization of learning under all stimulus conditions. (Author/KB)