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The association between pediatric injury risks and parenting behaviours
M L Jaques1, T L Weaver1, N L Weaver2
1Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Insights
Parenting challenges, like yelling or spanking, increase child injury risks. Supporting mothers and educating parents on sensitive parenting can prevent unintentional injuries in young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Injury Prevention
- Child Development
- Parenting Studies
Background:
- Unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death for children aged 1-18.
- Home environments are common sites for child injuries.
- Research on injury prevention has historically focused on environmental factors and safety education, with a gap in understanding parenting's role.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of parenting behaviors on children's risk of unintentional injury.
- To determine if developmentally insensitive parenting increases injury risk.
- To examine if developmentally sensitive parenting protects children from injury.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 119 mothers of children 5 years and younger from a pediatric clinic.
- Administered measures of parenting challenges, sensitive parenting, neglect, parental efficacy, and injury risk.
- Utilized hierarchical logistic regression to analyze parenting behaviors and injury risk, controlling for demographics.
Main Results:
- More frequent insensitive parenting (yelling, spanking) correlated with incorrect car seat use or unsafe removal.
- Younger parents showed higher risk for unsafe storage of cleaners and medications.
- Developmentally insensitive parenting behaviors were associated with increased unintentional injury risks.
Conclusions:
- Supporting younger mothers is crucial for injury prevention.
- Educating parents on effective, sensitive parenting strategies is vital for reducing unintentional injury risks.
- Parenting practices significantly impact child safety and injury prevention.
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.
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