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Abstract

Different risk behaviours pertaining to adolescents, such as sports or motor vehicle accidents, impact on healthy development. Adolescent injuries have been studied in international literature, but very little work has presented a general framework, including the main psychological and relational factors associated with different types of accidents. The present study aims to offer a theoretical overview of adolescents' individual and relational factors related to the phenomenon of unintentional injuries, focusing on psychological, personality functioning and different types of accidents. An extensive review of international literature on adolescent unintentional injuries was conducted in university libraries and in databases such as ProQuest, PsyArticles, PsyInfo, and PubMed. The papers' scientific relevance was verified by Scopus indexing. In particular, different studies and research that have addressed adolescent injuries from several point of view were examined, in an attempt to identify relevant works that contribute to the unravelling of this complex issue. Literature search results highlight the relevance of multiple individual factors that may be associated with accidents in adolescence. Although adolescent injuries have been widely studied, the victims' psychological profiles associated with different types of accidents remain scarcely addressed, because of the complex set of emotional, behavioural, social factors involved. Given the international relevance of the rising phenomenon of adolescent injuries, psychological and relational functioning and their correlates should be better investigated, for the significant impact of accidents on morbidity, particularly in this vulnerable yet important youthful segment of the population.