Time allocation between work and recreation and the associated injury risks among young people.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between overall risk of injury and time use patterns between work and active recreation among adolescents and young adults.


METHODS
Using a representative sample of 9,795 Canadians aged 15-24 years, a multivariate logistic regression on the likelihood of any medically attended injury was conducted, including sociodemographic, individual, and time factors.


RESULTS
Young people who engaged in a combination of high work and high activity hours were twice as likely to sustain a medically attended injury compared to those who worked low hours, but did not participate in any recreational activity. Those respondents who were not in school had a 43% increase in injury risk compared to full-time students.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that injury risk was not a simple function of fatigue and cumulative exposure time. Our findings suggest the importance of considering time use and the associated injury risk tradeoffs.


CONCLUSIONS
Relevant to state and federal work safety policy makers, our findings suggest the importance of understanding where youth might otherwise spend their time if constraint were placed on their employment opportunities, and the associated injury risk tradeoffs must be taken into consideration.
Breslin
F C
FC
Institute for Work and Health, 481 University Ave., Suite 800, Toronto, Canada, M5G 2E9. cbreslin@iwh.on.ca
Karmakar
S D
SD
Smith
P
P
Etches
J
J
Mustard
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016272:Occupational Health; D009864:Ontario; D011998:Recreation; D018570:Risk Assessment