EBD Blog

Professor David Schwebel and colleagues of the Department of Psychology and the Youth Safety Lab at the University of Alabama Birmingham (AL, US) reported that mothers’ ignoring of dangerous behavior correlates with children with externalizing behavior. These results are consistent with other research showing that parental monitoring of behavior is a component in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.

How mothers parent their children with behavior disorders: implications for unintentional injury risk.

How mothers parent their children with behavior disorders: implications for unintentional injury risk.
J Safety Res. 2006;37(2):167-73
Authors: Schwebel DC, Hodgens JB, Sterling S
INTRODUCTION: This study was designed to test the role of parental supervision in explaining why children with behavior disorders have increased risk of unintentional injury. METHOD: Children referred to a pediatric behavior disorders clinic and their mothers were unknowingly observed in a “hazard room” environment that housed several items that appeared dangerous but actually were altered to be safe. RESULTS: Mother and child behavior in the hazard room was correlated to parent-, teacher-, and observational-reports of children’s externalizing behavior patterns, children’s injury history, and mother’s parenting styles. Maternal ignoring of children’s dangerous behavior in the hazard room was the strongest correlate to children’s injury history. CONCLUSIONS: Poor parental supervision might serve as a mechanism to explain why children with behavior disorders, and those with oppositional behavior patterns in particular, have increased risk of unintentional injury.

Link to PUBMED abstract.