Craig T Ramey | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Injury risk among children of low-income U.S.-born and immigrant mothers.

The number of immigrants in the United States is at an all time high, yet psychologists have largely ignored the domain of immigrant health. This article considers 1 aspect of immigrant health, risk for pediatric injury. A sample of over 5,000 5-year-old children from impoverished families was studied; approximately 13% had immigrant mothers. Children of immigrants had a significantly lower rate of injury in the prior year. This was particularly true of non-White children of immigrants. Three possible mediators for this finding--assistance with parenting, parenting style, and health care accessibility--were considered, but none explained the difference. The need for further research on the topic and implications of results for injury prevention are discussed.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMed2004

Interactions between child behavior patterns and parenting: implications for children's unintentional injury risk.

OBJECTIVES: Two factors were considered as predictors of children's risk for unintentional injury: (a) children's temperamentally difficult behavior patterns and (b) parenting. Along with hypotheses to replicate previous univariate effects, it was hypothesized that active, involved parents with sufficient time resources might reduce injury risk among temperamentally at-risk children. METHODS: Study 1 used a retrospective design with a diverse sample of over 10,000 5-year-olds. Study 2 replicated Study 1 using a prospective design and behavioral data from a sample of over 1,000 children followed from 6 to 36 months of age. RESULTS: In Study 1, male gender, child hyperactivity, and family poverty predicted injury in a univariate manner. In Study 2, male gender and lack of positive parenting predicted injury in a univariate manner. Interaction effects also emerged: in Study 1 the interaction between child hyperactivity and parental time resources protected children from injury, and in Study 2 the interaction between child's difficult temperament and positive parenting protected children from injury. CONCLUSIONS: Children at increased risk for injury, i.e., those with hyperactive and difficult behavior patterns, might be protected in the environment of positive parenting. Theoretically, results suggest that researchers should consider Temperament x Environment interactions along with univariate predictors of outcome behavior. From an applied perspective, results have implications for the design of injury prevention campaigns: Parents who spend positive time with temperamentally difficult children might protect them from injury.

Analysis of Variance↗