Injury-producing events among children in low-income communities: The role of community characteristics

Abstract

Study Purpose. Injury remains the leading cause of death in children aged 1 to 4 years.Past studies of determinants of injuries among young children have most often focused on the microlevel, examining characteristics of the child, parent, family, and home environments. We sought to determine whether and how selected neighborhood economic and physical characteristics within these low-income communities are related to differences in risk of events with injury-producing potential among infants and young children.Methods. Our study used both individual-level data and information on the characteristics of the neighborhood of residence to describe the prevalence of events with injury-producing potential among infants and young children in three low-income communities in Baltimore City, Maryland. Our sample was 288 respondents who participated in a random household survey. Information on respondent (age, employment, and length of residence in the neighborhood) and neighborhood characteristics (average per capita income, rate of housing violations, and crime rate) were available. Methods of multilevel Poisson regression analysis were employed to identify which of these characteristics were associated with increased risk of experiencing an event with injury-producing potential in the month prior to the interview.Results. Although all three communities were considered low income, considerable variation in neighborhood characteristics and 1-month prevalence rates of events with injuryproducing potential were observed. Younger age of respondent and higher rates of housing violations were associated significantly with increased risk of a child under 5 years old in the household experiencing an event with injury-producing potential.

Mechanisms of Pediatric Trauma Deaths in Canada and the United States: The Role of Firearms

“…3,7,13,16 These variables include economic factors such as employment rate, income level, and education levels, as well as legislative factors such as highway speed limits, helmet laws, and firearm legislation. To contrast and compare the social, cultural, and legislative milieu of the two societies, information was obtained regarding these factors from state and provincial government databases.…”

Neighborhood Characteristics, Child Maltreatment, and Child Injuries

“…Schieber and Vegega (2002) suggested that the trend toward widening roadways to accommodate larger trucks may increase children's risk by making streets too difficult to cross during a light change and by eliminating sidewalks and refuge islands. O'Campo et al (2000) found that municipal housing violations, a proxy measure for housing conditions, significantly predicted events that were likely to produce an injury to a child.…”

Community Influences on Adjustment in First Grade: An Examination of an Integrated Process Model

“…The last decade has seen an increase in the number of studies that incorporate a neighborhood focus in studies of a range of issues including child behavior problems (Beyers, Bates, Pettit, & Dodge, 2003;Brody et al, 2003;Caughy, O'Campo, & Muntaner, 2003, 2004Chase-Lansdale & Gordon, 1996;Colder, Mott, Levy, & Flay, 2000;Dorsey & Forehand, 2003;Kupersmidt, Griesler, DeRosier, Patterson, & Davis, 1995;Simons, Johnson, Beaman, Conger, & Whitbeck, 1996;Simons et al, 2002;Xue, Leventhal, Brooks-Gunn, & Earls, 2005), child cognitive outcomes (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Sealand, 1993;Caughy & Franzini, 2005;Chase-Lansdale & Gordon, 1996;Kohen, Brooks-Gunn, Leventhal, & Hertzmann, 2002), and child health outcomes such as low birth weight (O'Campo, Xue, Wang, & Caughy, 1997) and injury (O'Campo, Rao, Gielen, Royalty, & Wilson, 2000). There is a small body of literature examining neighborhood influences on academic achievement specifically, but most of this research has been with either adolescents (Bowen, Bowen, & Ware, 2002;Cook, Herman, Phillips, & Settersten, 2002;Ensminger, Lamkin, & Jacobson, 1996;Tama, Leventhal, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004) or older school-age children (Gutman & McLoyd, 2000;Schwartz & Gorman, 2003;Shumow, Vandell, & Posner, 1999).…”