Child Behavior and Accidental Injury in 11,966 Preschool Children

Polly E. Bijur, Sarah Stewart Brown, Neville Butler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

124 Scopus citations

Abstract

Social and behavioral characteristics of 11,966 British children, aged 5 years, and mothers’ reports of accidental injuries between birth and age 5 years were analyzed. Aggressive behavior was associated with all accidental injuries after controlling psychosocial variables including social class; crowding; mother’s psychological distress, age, and marital status; and child’s sex. Overactivity was associated only with injuries not resulting in hospitalization after control of the covariates. The relative risk of injuries resulting in hospitalization was 1.9 among children with both high activity and high aggression scores compared with children with low scores on both behavioral scales. The findings support the inference that aggression and overactivity are independently associated with accidents. The associations between child behavior and injuries were stronger than the associations between injuries and the social factors including social class and crowding. This finding suggests that interventions aimed at high-risk groups may be effective supplements to environmental interventions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)487-492
Number of pages6
JournalAmerican Journal of Diseases of Children
Volume140
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1986

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health

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