TY - JOUR
T1 - Relationship Between Parental Locus of Control and Childhood Injury
AU - Schilling, Samantha
AU - Ritter, Victor Silva
AU - Skinner, Ashley
AU - Yin, H. Shonna
AU - Sanders, Lee M.
AU - Rothman, Russell L.
AU - Delamater, Alan M.
AU - Perrin, Eliana M.
N1 - Funding Information:
All phases of this study were supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (Grant R01HD049794), with supplemental funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (Grants R01HD059794-04S1, R01HD059794-04S2). Parts of the study were supported by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program Grants 1UL1RR029893, UL1TR000445, and UL1RR025747, as well as NIH DK56350.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Although pediatricians routinely counsel parents about preventing childhood injuries, we know little about parents’ locus of control (LOC) in regards to preventing their children from being injured. We performed an observational analysis of sociodemographic differences in LOC for injury prevention, as measured by four items adapted from the Parental Health Beliefs Scales, in English- and Spanish-speaking parents of infants participating in the treatment arm of an obesity prevention study. First, we examined associations of parental LOC for injury prevention at the time their children were 2 months old with parents’ age, race/ethnicity, income, and education. Next, we analyzed time trends for repeated LOC measures when the children were 2, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months old. Last, we examined the association between injury-related LOC items and children’s injury (yes/no) at each time point. Of 452 parents, those with lower incomes had both lower internal and higher external LOC. Lower educational achievement was associated with higher external LOC. Both internal and external LOC scores decreased over time. Injuries were more common in children whose parents endorsed low internal and high external LOC. Future studies should examine whether primary care-based interventions can increase parents’ sense of control over their children’s safety and whether that, in turn, is associated with lower injury rates. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT01040897.
AB - Although pediatricians routinely counsel parents about preventing childhood injuries, we know little about parents’ locus of control (LOC) in regards to preventing their children from being injured. We performed an observational analysis of sociodemographic differences in LOC for injury prevention, as measured by four items adapted from the Parental Health Beliefs Scales, in English- and Spanish-speaking parents of infants participating in the treatment arm of an obesity prevention study. First, we examined associations of parental LOC for injury prevention at the time their children were 2 months old with parents’ age, race/ethnicity, income, and education. Next, we analyzed time trends for repeated LOC measures when the children were 2, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months old. Last, we examined the association between injury-related LOC items and children’s injury (yes/no) at each time point. Of 452 parents, those with lower incomes had both lower internal and higher external LOC. Lower educational achievement was associated with higher external LOC. Both internal and external LOC scores decreased over time. Injuries were more common in children whose parents endorsed low internal and high external LOC. Future studies should examine whether primary care-based interventions can increase parents’ sense of control over their children’s safety and whether that, in turn, is associated with lower injury rates. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT01040897.
KW - Injury prevention
KW - Locus of control
KW - Primary care
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U2 - 10.1007/s10935-020-00615-y
DO - 10.1007/s10935-020-00615-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 33104944
AN - SCOPUS:85094145679
VL - 41
SP - 547
EP - 565
JO - Journal of Primary Prevention
JF - Journal of Primary Prevention
SN - 0278-095X
IS - 6
ER -