Father-child and mother-child activation relationships as predictors of injury-risk behaviors in preschool boys and girls

Boys are known to take more risks than girls, which may lead them to suffer more injuries than girls when exploring their physical surroundings. The aims of this study are to verify whether the father-child activation relationship has a greater effect than the mother-child activation relationship on preschoolers' risk-taking, and whether both of these relationships are a greater predictor of risk-taking in boys than in girls. Activation relationships were assessed using a standardized observation procedure at 15 and 45 months old with each parent. Both parents completed a questionnaire on their child's injury-risk behaviors during the preschool years. Both predictions were supported. Moreover, this longitudinal study found that preschoolers' risk-taking was predicted by mother-child overactivation in both infancy and preschool, whereas preschoolers' risk-taking was predicted by father-child overactivation in preschool alone, after controlling for parent-child overactivation relationships during infancy.