Parental injury prevention beliefs and children’s medically attended injuries: evidence from a sample of disadvantaged rural fathers

Parental supervision is key to child injury prevention. Mothers’ beliefs about supervision and injuries are associated with increased monitoring and reduced injury risk, but less is known about how fathers’ injury prevention beliefs may be associated with children’s injuries. This study examined associations between fathers’ injury prevention beliefs, home condition, and children’s medically attended injuries. Fathers of 2–6 year-old children (N = 61) completed questionnaires assessing injury prevention beliefs and reported the number of medically attended injuries for their child. Independent observers rated home condition. Fathers of children with medically attended injuries reported more maladaptive injury prevention beliefs, but there were no differences in adaptive injury prevention beliefs. In multivariable analyses, child age and fathers’ maladaptive injury prevention beliefs were associated with a greater likelihood of a prior injury. Injury prevention efforts can target fathers’ maladaptive beliefs, rather than simply encourage greater supervision and protectiveness, to reduce children’s injury risk.