Contributions of multiple risk factors to child injury

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.

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.

Implications for understanding the etiology of children's unintentional injuries and developing empirically derived injury prevention techniques are discussed.