DETERMINANTS OF CONTROLLABLE IN-HOME CHILD SAFETY HAZARDS

Interviews with 230 mothers of young children (less than 5 years of ag e) were used to observe hazards in the home that parents could control . Factors indicative of informational, stress and coping, and parentin g deficits on the part of mothers are major explanatory groups of vari ables in the prediction of controllable hazards in the home. Additiona l self-report measures included child's previous injury experience, an d sociodemographic and socioeconomic indicators. The most important pr edictors of controllable home hazards were socioeconomic status, housi ng repair, perceived risks (informational deficits), maternal social s upport (deficits in handling stress) and maternal supervision (parenti ng deficits). Findings suggest that educational programs on child inju ry control directed at parents need to incorporate parenting skills ed ucation as well as child development components.