Abstract
Liquid laundry capsules have been involved in multiple poisoning incidents with young children in the home. There are a range of contributing factors for these incidents, including influences from industry, culture, home environments, and parenting/supervision. There also are influences from children’s behaviour and decisions in reaction to potential hazards. Previous research examined the influence of capsule product appearance and colour on children’s behaviour around hazardous household items, but little research examines the influence of product size. This research explored if differences in the size of liquid laundry capsules result in different levels of toddler interaction. We compared two commercially available capsule designs that are identical in physical appearance but differ in physical size. Our research was conducted using three studies: Study 1, forced-choice test in an out-of-context laboratory setting; Study 2, an ecologically-valid, simulated real-world setting replicating a home laundry cabinet with a container of capsules left open; and Study 3, a second ecologically-valid study replicating a home laundry cabinet, this time with a capsule left outside its container. Capsule interaction was measured by grasping choice among samples of 156 toddlers ages 9–36 months. The same sample was used for Studies 1 and 2, and a second identically sized sample recruited for Study 3. Results from Study 1 indicated toddlers selected the small (49.8% selection) and large (50.2%) capsule with nearly identical frequency. Study 2 largely replicated Study 1: Toddlers selected the small capsule or container of small capsules 26.8% of the time and the large capsule or container of large capsules 22.3% of the time. Study 3 also replicated previous findings: Toddlers selected the smaller capsule 18.0% of the time and the larger 19.2%. We discuss study results, which suggest no appreciable difference in toddler’s grasping choice to smaller versus larger laundry capsules.
Highlights
MethodsThe research was comprised of three studies, each investigating toddler’s preferences toward and interaction with small versus larger laundry capsules
Research highlights safety concerns with liquid laundry capsules, with some reports suggesting the physical appearance of the laundry capsules may contribute to child health risk because toddlers may touch and mouth them, leading to unintentional poisoning incidents
The Likelihood Ratio (LR) chi-square test indicated the two capsule sizes were chosen with similar frequency (χ2(1) = 0.018, p = 0.89)
Summary
The research was comprised of three studies, each investigating toddler’s preferences toward and interaction with small versus larger laundry capsules. Studies 1 and 2 were carried out in May and June 2019 and Study 3 in October through December 2019. The same participants taking part in Study 1 took part in Study 2. A new group of toddlers was recruited for Study 3. All parents provided informed consent and toddlers provided developmentally appropriate assent. All study protocols were approved by the Ethics Committee in Human Research of the University of Valencia, Spain (Reference Number 1033674). The University of Valencia ethical committee was chosen for approval because it specialises in social research and represents the regional area where the study was conducted
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