Injuries in Preschool: Child’s Characteristics and Parental Supervision

Abstract

Children’s injuries are a serious public-health problem, not only for their frequency but also for the seriousness of their consequences. We studied the relation among maternal supervision, child’s risk taking and sensation seeking and history of notserious injuries. Participants included 125 mothers and their children (M age = 59 months). Mothers completed the following instruments: Parental Supervision Attitudes Profile Questionnaire (PSAPQ; Morrongiello e Corbett, 2006), Injury Behavior Checklist (IBC - Speltz et al., 1990) and Injury Frequency History (IFH – Potts et al., 1997). Mothers and children completed the Sensation Seeking Scale for Young Children (SSSYC – adapted by Morrongiello, Sandomierski, Valla, 2010). Findings show low correlations among maternal supervision, child’s risk taking, sensation seeking and history of injuries. On the contrary Sensation seeking seems to be a strong correlate of child’s risk taking and history of injuries.