A longitudinal study of parents' expectations about infants’ emerging behaviors and their safety strategies to moderate injury risk

Abstract

RationaleUnintentional injuries are the leading cause of preventable deaths for children under 19 years of age. Infancy has been identified as a high-risk stage for injury. Throughout infancy, infants acquire increasing motor competencies but have limited capabilities to appraise danger. This longitudinal multi-method study examined parents' expectations about their infant's emerging behaviors and their in-home safety practices when their infants were at two stages of motor development: pre-mobile (i.e. sitting independently) and mobile (i.e. walking independently). MethodsAt each motor development stage, parents completed an interview and rating scales to report on their infants’ current and anticipated (3 months later) behavioral competencies, as well as their own safety practices and anticipated changes in these. Results and ImplicationsFindings revealed that parents engaged in poorer supervision (reduced proximity, decreased attention) when infants were mobile than pre-mobile, while at the same time doing less to constrain their infants’ movements around the room when mobile than pre-mobile. At both stages of motor development, parents reported expecting increased unpredictability in how their infants would behave in the upcoming months, due primarily to motor development (pre-mobile infants) or cognitive curiosity (mobile infants). In response, they planned to change their safety practices by decreasing supervision and increasing teaching about safety, despite the young ages of the children. Implications for injury risk to infants and prevention initiatives focusing on parents are discussed.