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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on March 10, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn021
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Supervising Children During Parental Distractions

Richard E. Boles, PhD1 and Michael C. Roberts, PhD2

1Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati and 2Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Richard E. Boles, PhD, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, MLC 3015, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. E-mail: richard.boles{at}cchmc.org


  Abstract

Objective To examine the effects of parenting distractions on supervising behaviors in relation to child risky behaviors. Methods Forty preschool-aged children and their parents were randomly assigned to occupy a simulated home living room for 45 min with the parent involved in either (a) no planned distraction, (b) a telephone call distraction, (c) a TV show distraction, or (d) a computer assignment distraction. Parent and child behaviors were recorded and coded. Results Parent supervising behaviors were significantly intercorrelated but revealed no relation to risky child behavior. Children showed higher risky behavior during parental distractions and steadily over time when parent distractions occurred. Additionally, younger children were more likely to engage in risky behavior when compared to older children. Conclusions Parents showed significant reductions in their ability to supervise children during distractions, limiting the ability to provide education or to take immediate action necessary to prevent or minimize possible injuries.

Key words: childhood injuries; observation; parent distractions; supervision.

Received August 12, 2007; revision received February 18, 2008; accepted February 20, 2008


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