Parent and child factors that affect unintentional injury in late childhood

This study examined how parent factors (i.e., permissive parenting, beliefs about the benefits of injuries) and child factors (i.e., risk-taking propensity, disclosure of information to parents about location and activities, secret keeping) predict the occurrence of injuries in pre-adolescents and adolescents. To garner a more comprehensive understanding of how parent gender and child gender each impact injury risk across developmental stages in later childhood, mothers' and fathers' perspectives were examined, and sons and daughters were considered separately.

One hundred eighteen parent-child triads provided survey data (61 pre-adolescent, 57 adolescent). Children reported on disclosures about their activities and whereabouts to their parents and intentional secret keeping. Mothers and fathers each reported on their child's injury history and risk-taking propensity, as well as their permissiveness in parenting and beliefs about the benefits of their child sustaining minor injuries.

Greater risk-taking propensity predicted injuries for sons but not daughters, across both pre-adolescence and adolescence, and based on both mothers' and fathers' reports. Parental belief in the benefits of injuries was associated with more frequent injuries among pre-adolescents. Parental knowledge about their children's activities and whereabouts significantly reduced injury risk for adolescents. Fathers' permissiveness and sons' keeping secrets from fathers both predicted higher injury risk in adolescence.

Parent and child attributes both contribute to injury risk in later childhood, but the effects differ as a function of the developmental level of the child and the gender of the parent and child. Implications for injury prevention are discussed.