Child restraint seat use behavior and attitude among Japanese mothers

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Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of the study was to assess associations between child restraint seat use and attitudes among Japanese mothers.

Materials and methods

Mothers whose children were under 6 years of age were recruited through 11 kindergartens located in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Questions were developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Reasoned Action. Past use and future intentions to use, perceived risk of injury, knowledge of safety, attitudes toward use, subjective norms, and safety values related to safety seats were asked.

Results

A total of 552 complete questionnaires was obtained. Of 500 car owning households, 54.2% used child restraint seats inconsistently on short drives, and 36.4% did so on long drives. Three variables were associated with inconsistent use on short drives: frequent child resistance to sitting in a restraint seat; mothers’ feeling hassled by child restraint seat use; and, mothers’ agreement with the lack of need to use a restraint seat when another adult is in a car. Two variables were associated with inconsistent use on long drives: lower subjective norm of husband and frequent child resistance.

Conclusions

In-car environmental modification and parent education need to be considered to increase child restraint seat use among Japanese households.

Section snippets

Background

Child restraint seat use has not yet become universal among Japanese 6 years after law enactment that requires private motor vehicle drivers to use child restraint seats for child occupants younger than 6 years of age. Observational studies reported that the use rate increased to 39.9% in 2000 from 15.1% in 1999; however, reached on the plateau of around 50% (Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), 2006). While the child restraint seat ownership rate was 89.3%, consistent use was 59.8% of the seat

Study instrument design

Psychosocial conceptual models are useful tools in the areas of health research (Glanz et al., 2002) and unintentional injury research (Gielen and Sleet, 2003, Trifiletti et al., 2005) for examining associations between behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions. The Health Belief Model (HBM; Rosenstock, 1974) and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) are two models that have been commonly used in health behavior research (Janz et al., 2002, Montano and Kasprzyk, 2002). HBM

Participants

Study participants were mothers whose children were younger than 6 years of age. Participants were recruited through 11 kindergartens located in Kanagawa prefecture. The kindergartens agreed to distribute questionnaires to and collect them from mothers, in response to a request from the research group. Only mothers were invited to participate in the study to eliminate potential variability in reporting by gender. A total of 971 questionnaires were distributed, and 555 questionnaires were

Results

Of 555 questionnaires returned, 503 mothers reported their households owned a car. Data of three mothers from car owning households were excluded from later analyses because the data lacked reports of past child restraint use and future intentions to use. Therefore, the response rate for completed surveys was 56.8%. Descriptive statistics of responses obtained from car owning households are shown in Table 1, Table 2. Data of non-car owning household mothers are not shown because the group

Discussion

The study aimed to describe associations between psychosocial and demographic variables and child restraint seat use among Japanese households based on mothers’ reports. Results provide knowledge with regard to child restraint seat use behaviors among the group and possible reasons behind inconsistent use or non-use.

First, substantial percentages of households did not use child restraint seats at all or did not use consistently. Given the fact that a fatality rate of child occupants without

Conclusion

The study provided knowledge useful to develop intervention programs and further research targeting Japanese parents with regard to child restraint seat use. As an injury prevention study from psychosocial perspectives, results of the study lend support to the importance of acknowledging the subjectivity and irrationality of decision-making process and effects of experiences and social contexts on risk perceptions and decision-making. Intervention programs should include strategies that

Acknowledgements

This publication was supported by Grant number R49/CCR811509 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also, the publication was supported by Grant number 17131301 from Japan Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Japan Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry.

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