Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on May 18, 2009
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsp036
Assessing Injuries with Proxies: Implications for Understanding Concurrent Relations and Behavioral Antecedents of Pediatric Injuries
Kent State University
*Present address: Department of Psychology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691.
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bryan T. Karazsia, Department of Psychology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA. E-mail: bkarazsi{at}gmail.com
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Abstract |
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Objective To examine the implications of using proxies of medically attended injuries (minor injuries and close calls) for understanding concurrent relations among—and behavioral antecedents of—pediatric injuries. Methods Participants were 812 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Measures of externalizing behavior, maternal depression, SES, and the home environment were examined as prospective predictors of minor injuries, close calls, and medically attended injuries. Results Minor injuries and close calls were associated with medically attended injuries concurrently. Regression equations revealed different prospective predictors across the three outcome variables. Conclusions This study was the first to examine concurrent associations among minor injuries, close calls, and medically attended injuries. Prospective antecedents of each injury assessment were also examined. The present findings signify the importance of distinguishing between these different methods of assessing pediatric injury. The study also illustrated that different analytic strategies were needed to represent observed data of each outcome variable.
Key words: injury; injury proxies; count outcomes.
Received September 25, 2008; revision received March 21, 2009; accepted March 31, 2009