Smoking and medication during pregnancy predict repeated unintentional injuries in early childhood but not single unintentional injuries (original) (raw)
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Unintentional Infant Injuries: Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Factors
Public Health Nursing, 1994
This prospective study sought to identify sociodemographic and psychosocial risk factors for unintentional infant injuries that occurred in or around the home. It also examined whether social support modified the relationship between high maternal stress and infant injury. The subjects were 367 mothers who were interviewed six to eight weeks after their newborn infants were discharged from the hospital, and approximately one year later, when 132 infants (36%) were reported as in.jured (burned, poisoned, serious fall, airway problem). Logistic regression analyses established that family conflict was the most significant predictor of unintentional infant injury, followed by fewer than two siblings living in the home at the first interview, and maternal unemployment. In addition, among mothers with high stress, the use of social support resulted in fewer unintentional infant injuries. Injuries are a major source of disability and death in young children. They require medical attention in almost one-third of children before age 3 years (Larson & Pless, 1988), and account for almost half of all deaths of children from ages 1 to 4 (National Academy of Sciences, 1985). A North Carolina study of children under age 5 found that for each one who died from injury, 23 others had been hospitalized due to injury (Runyan et al., 1985). According to the national health interview survey, in 1989, injuries were responsible for 35 restricted-activity days per 100 children under age 5 (Adams & Benson, 1990).
The association between pediatric injury risks and parenting behaviours
Child Care Health and Development, 2017
Background: Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children ages 1-18 years. Many of these injuries to young children occur in their own homes. Although research has explored injury risk prevention strategies, historically, much of this research has focused on environmental changes and teaching safety practices. Currently, there appears to be a gap in current research exploring how parenting influences children's risk of injury. Methods: Mothers (n = 119) of children 5 years and younger were recruited from a paediatric clinic as a part of a larger study and completed measures of parenting challenges, developmentally sensitive parenting, child neglect, parental efficacy, and risk of potential injury situations. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to explore the extent to which developmentally insensitive parenting behaviours put parents at higher risk for behaviours that lead to unintentional injury in children and whether developmentally sensitive parenting behaviours protects children from injury. The association between demographic characteristics and injury risk behaviours was also examined. Results: Parents who reported more frequent insensitive parenting behaviours (i.e., yelling, spanking, and putting child in time out) were more likely to report putting their child in an incorrect car seat or taking their child out of a car seat while the car is still moving. In addition, younger parents were at greater risk of storing cleaners and medications unsafely. Conclusion: Results from this study highlight the importance of supporting younger mothers and educating parents on effective parenting strategies when trying to prevent unintentional injury risks. KEYWORDS child abuse and neglect, child maltreatment, health, parenting, prevention and control, unintentional injury 1 | INTRODUCTION Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of mortality in children ages 1-18 years old, causing the death of over 12,000 children each year (Borse et al., 2008). The National Action Plan for Child Injury Prevention emphasizes that unintentional injuries are not accidents and are predictable and preventable when appropriate precautions are taken (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012). Research has shown that over 90% of all unintentional injuries in young children (ages 5 and under) occur at home, often around caregivers (Rivara, 1995). Although such unintentional injury-related deaths have decreased over the past century, the magnitude of this reduction has not seen as steady of a decline as other preventable illnesses (e.g., tuberculosis; Borse et al., 2008). Much of the effort in preventing unintentional injury has focused on improving environmental safety (e.g., playground equipment and car seats) through informational pamphlets and media outreach (Azar & Weinzierl, 2005). To protect young children, environmental interventions (e.g., car seats) need to be properly used by caregivers. Thus, improving the capacity of parents to implement safety precautions is critical; the continued study of the relationship between parenting behaviours and risk is warranted.
Risk for Minor Childhood Injury: An Investigation of Maternal and Child Factors
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2005
Objective To examine how maternal and child characteristics interact to moderate injury rate and injury severity for young children. Methods In this study, 149 mothers reported their toddlers' injuries over a 6-month period during biweekly interviews. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing parenting behaviors, psychological characteristics, and their children's injury-relevant behaviors. Results Maternal locus of control was found to moderate the association between children's risky behavior and child injury rate. Specifically, an external locus of control was associated with increased child injury rate for high-risk but not for low-risk children. Conclusion These findings illuminate the potential importance of parental locus of control in moderating high-risk injury-relevant behavior.
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2007
Objective To analyze the relative contribution of latent genetic and environmental factors to differences in the injury liability of children, and to examine the association between measured socio-economic, family, and child-behavior variables and unintentional injury risk. Methods Unintentional injuries from birth to age 5, together with information regarding measured risk variables, were reported by mothers in a sample of 1027 same-sex twin pairs from a nationally representative 1994-1995 birth cohort. Results Child-specific environmental factors accounted for most of the variance (86.4%) in the likelihood of ever having an injury. When considering the risk of two or more injuries child-specific environmental factors explained 60.2% of the variance and family-wide environmental influence 39.8%. Measured socio-economic, family, and childbehavior factors predicted frequent injury. Conclusions Results give little support to the concept of a heritable injury-prone trait in preschool children; environmental influences accounted for most of the injury variance in this sample. However, behavioral variables, especially the child's externalizing problem behaviors, are also important in explaining unintentional injuries.
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2004
Objectives Two factors were considered as predictors of children's risk for unintentional injury: (a) children's temperamentally difficult behavior patterns and (b) parenting. Along with hypotheses to replicate previous univariate effects, it was hypothesized that active, involved parents with sufficient time resources might reduce injury risk among temperamentally at-risk children. Methods Study 1 used a retrospective design with a diverse sample of over 10,000
Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention, 2015
Much of the research on child injury risk has focused on trait-like factors (eg, hyperactivity, child gender) that influence injury risk rather than state-like factors (eg, environmental circumstances, child behaviour). Additional research is needed to better identify the proximal risk factors for children's risk for unintentional injury. The present study examined the antecedents to minor unintentional injury events and whether unusual circumstances and child behaviour predicted injury risk. The study used archival data that were collected via biweekly in-person interviews with 170 mothers of toddlers (15-36 months) for 6 months. A case crossover design was used to predict children's risk for injury from proximal risk factors. Children were at a higher risk for injury when circumstances were unusual and when they were engaging in an unusual behaviour. When a child was engaging in an unusual behaviour, higher levels of maternal supervision predicted lower injury risk. Childr...
The Role of Fathers in Toddlers' Unintentional Injury Risk
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2004
Objectives Previous work suggests that maternal parenting and supervision reduces risk for children's unintentional injuries, but very little research has examined the role of fathers in children's unintentional injury risk. The role of fathers in protecting children from unintentional injury was considered. Methods A prospective longitudinal design predicted injury risk in 181 toddlers from the ages of 6 to 36 months. Predictor variables included child gender and temperament, individual difference factors of the mother and father, and parenting factors of the mother and father. Results Hierarchical regression models suggested that fathers' report of gains to the family from their employment was the strongest predictor of risk of children's unintentional injury. Several other paternal and maternal factors were also modestly related to injury risk. Conclusions Data indicate the need to consider the role of fathers in protecting children from unintentional injuries.
Contributions of Multiple Risk Factors to Child Injury
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2005
Objective Most previous research on etiological factors that predict children's unintentional injuries has focused on single independent risk factors that predict injury, but psychological methods and theory lend themselves to simultaneous consideration of multiple risk factors that might together create an increased or decreased risk for injury. Method One approach to considering multiple risk factors of child injury, inspired by Lizette Peterson's notion of process analysis, is to consider how risk factors serve in moderated, mediated, and mediated moderation roles to each other. We present two lines of research that exemplify such models. In each, multiple risk factors for child injury are considered within a single theoretical model. Conclusions Implications for understanding the etiology of children's unintentional injuries and developing empirically derived injury prevention techniques are discussed.
Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for young children in the United States. Unfortunately, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to children's injuries, particularly with regard to the role of maternal behaviors. Gaining a better understanding of the ways in which maternal behaviors relate to children's injuries may help researchers develop effective strategies for preventing childhood injuries. The present study examined whether levels of maternal supervision moderated the relation of child and social-ecological variables (i.e., maternal, intrafamilial, and extrafamilial factors) in children's environments to children's injury frequencies and severities. The study also examined whether the moderating effects of supervision on the relation of child and social-ecological variables to child injuries were due to between-mother differences in typical supervision levels or due to individual mothers' own fluctuations in supervision across time periods. Primarily upper-middle class Caucasian mothers of 170 toddlers were interviewed biweekly about their children's injuries and their own supervisory behaviors over a 6-month period. The mothers also completed questionnaires assessing variables in their children's social ecologies. The results showed that maternal supervision levels moderated the effects of maternal locus of control and marginally moderated the effect of maternal marital/partner relationship satisfaction on children's injury frequencies. Surprisingly, however, higher levels of supervision were related to higher frequencies of child injuries for mothers at nearly all levels of locus of control and marital/partner relationship satisfaction. Maternal supervision also moderated the effect of child gender on injury severities, such that vi higher supervision was protective for boys but not girls. Within-mother time-periodspecific changes in supervision levels moderated relations between the same variables, indicating that findings were due to changes in mothers' time-period-specific supervision levels rather than differences between mothers' typical supervision levels. Nevertheless, typical supervision did moderate the relation of child externalizing behavior to injury frequencies. Replication of this research is needed with a sample of mothers who supervise at lower levels and who have higher levels of injury risk factors to more clearly understand the role of supervision in children's unintentional injuries. vii