It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt: Identifying risk warnings that children will follow

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of preventable deaths for children in Canada and the United States. Previous research has shown that engaging in physical risk taking increases injury risk for school-age children and a positive elevated mood state is associated with greater physical risk taking by children. Studies with adults and teens have demonstrated that the way health information is presented can influence decisions about health behaviors such as safety practices, but much less is known about how different types of messaging strategies influence the health behaviors of children.

In an article recently published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, Barbara A. Morrongiello and graduate students Mackenzie Seasons, Emily Weinberger, and Caroline Zolis examined whether exposing children to framed messages about safety could reduce risk behaviors when they are in a positive elevated mood state and playing in a situation with injury risks. Children (7–10 years old) were randomly assigned to receive a framed message (either a gain-frame message emphasizing how to behave to remain safe or a loss-frame message emphasizing the potential injury consequences of risk-taking behaviors) or a control (neutral) message after a heightened positive mood state was induced. Children’s physical risk taking was assessed by observing their recklessness when they ran through an indoor obstacle course. Measures were taken before and after the positive mood had been induced and the children were exposed to their message condition. Results indicated the positive mood induction procedure was successful and led to increased risk taking, as expected. Gain and loss frame messages both counteracted this mood effect and led to reductions in physical risk taking, although the loss frame had a greater effect than the gain frame did. Applying these messaging strategies may mitigate physical risk taking by school-age children when they are unsupervised in situations that pose a risk of injury.

This article is in the Neuroscience and Cognition topic area.

Morrongiello, B. A., Seasons, M., Weinberger, E., & Zolis, C. (2024). Can exposure to framed messages about safety reduce risk behaviours by school-age children? Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000404

Barbara Morrongiello, PhD and CPsych, is a full professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Injury Prevention. Her research examines factors that influence injury risk at different developmental stages (e.g., safety practices of parents having infants and toddlers, school children’s risk-taking decisions, teen risky driving practices) and then applies these findings to identify strategies to reduce injury risk.

Mackenzie Seasons, PhD, completed her degree in the Psychology Department at the University of Guelph. Her interest in children’s risk-taking decisions has led her to focus on skateboarding injuries to adolescents, with the aim being to understand why youth return to the sport after experiencing a serious injury.

Emily Weinberger, MA, is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph. Her research focuses on understanding how parents and youth negotiate about safety throughout adolescence as youth desire to gain greater independence in decision making in injury-risk situations.

Caroline Zolis, BA, is a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph. Her research is aimed at developing messaging to enhance the safety practices of parents who have toddlers in the home.