The impact of children’s temperament on recurrent unintentional injuries: the role of paternal parenting styles as a mediator

BACKGROUND: Unintentional injuries (UIs) pose a threat to the health of children all over the world and are a major global health problem. The recurrence of UIs are influenced by the host itself or environmental factors. Children’s temperament and paternal parenting styles (PPS) are important potential factors for poor health outcomes, including recurrent unintentional injuries (recurrent UIs). Therefore, exploring the relationship among these variables may help reduce the likelihood of recurrent UIs in children. PURPOSE: To elucidate the mediating effect of PPS in the relationship of children’s temperament characteristics and recurrent UIs among children. METHODS: By multistage random cluster sampling method, a total of 2,850 pupils in grades four and five from 10 different schools were included. The survey included the characteristics of UIs in the past year, parenting styles, and children’s temperament. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the possible mediating effect of PPS between children’s temperament and recurrent UIs. RESULTS: In this study, the incidence rate of recurrent UIs was 3.8%. In temperament, children with recurrent UIs had higher mean scores than the non-recurrent UIs group (t = −3.40, −3.52, −3.45, respectively; p < 0.001) in the activity, predictability, persistence. Meanwhile, the scores of negative PPS (punishing, over-interference, rejection, and overprotection) were higher in the recurrent UIs group than in the non-recurrent UIs group (t = −5.78, −5.05, −5.56, and −3.29; p < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001, respectively). Using a stepwise binary logistic regression model, grade (OR = 0.23, 95% CI [0.12–0.41], p < 0.001), activity (OR = 1.61, 95% CI [1.14–2.26], p = 0.007) and over-interference (OR = 2.28, 95% CI [1.37–3.80], p = 0.002) had a significant independent relationship with recurrent UIs. The SEM results indicated that children’s temperament was significantly related to negative PPS (β = 0.26, p < 0.001) and recurrent UIs (β = 0.11, p = 0.029). The results of the bootstrap test confirmed the significance of the mediating effect of PPS (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) between children’s temperament and recurrent UIs. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that negative PPS plays an important role in mediating children’s temperament and recurrent UIs. It is essential to consider PPS when creating tailored intervention programs to reduce children’s recurrent UIs.