The Association of Personality and the Likelihood of Serious Unintentional Injury During Childhood

In this study a survival analysis was conducted to examine whether childhood personality was associated with the likelihood and the timing of an unintentional injury requiring hospitalization or medical attention before the age of 13. Maternal ratings of childhood personality (at 5 or 6 years of age) were used to derive resiliency, undercontrol, and overcontrol prototypical profile scores for a diverse sample of 1,013 child participants from the child sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. A significant inverse association was found between likelihood of childhood unintentional injury and the overcontrolled prototype score. The findings are interpreted in light of their implications for researchers and health care practitioners interested in improving the health and well-being of children and adolescents.