Psychological Characteristics of Childhood Accidents

Abstract

Research on the psychological characteristics of children injured inadvertently has been beset by criticisms reflecting partly concerns about research methodology and partly a view that the research may detract from wide‐scale public health approaches to injury prevention. Moreover, the research has often led to the too general application of the notion of accident proneness, presumably reflecting a trait. Because of these criticisms, the search for systematic psychological factors affecting children's injuries has been disparaged. A longitudinal research program is described that concentrates on the behaviors of children in conjunction with injury history. Extended data incorporating measures of parents, home environments, and children demonstrate that injury liability is associated with psychological characteristics of the child, but the association is qualified by age and sex of the child, as well as by attributes of the parents and the home. The accumulation of evidence shows that psychological characteristics of the child enter into the injury equation and there is a need for psychologists to trace them along developmental lines.