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Young children's perception of danger
Author(s) -
Grieve Robert,
Williams Aileen
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1985.tb00990.x
Subject(s) - accidental , electrocution , psychology , injury prevention , perception , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , occupational safety and health , accident (philosophy) , developmental psychology , medical emergency , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , physics , pathology , neuroscience , acoustics
Accidents are the major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in industrialized societies. To devise effective programmes of accident prevention, it is necessary to obtain some estimate of young children's ability to perceive danger. Our study describes the abilities of children aged 3 to 6 years to perceive dangers commonly involved in childhood accidents—e.g. accidental falls, accidents involving scalds and burns, cuts and lacerations, electrocution, drowning, etc. Age effects, sex differences, and socio‐economic background effects are considered in the results of two studies, which ask children to identify and recognize dangerous situations.