Child restraint seat use behavior and attitude among Japanese mothers.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to assess associations between child restraint seat use and attitudes among Japanese mothers.


METHODS
Mothers whose children were under 6 years of age were recruited through 11 kindergartens located in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Questions were developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Reasoned Action. Past use and future intentions to use, perceived risk of injury, knowledge of safety, attitudes toward use, subjective norms, and safety values related to safety seats were asked.


RESULTS
A total of 552 complete questionnaires was obtained. Of 500 car owning households, 54.2% used child restraint seats inconsistently on short drives, and 36.4% did so on long drives. Three variables were associated with inconsistent use on short drives: frequent child resistance to sitting in a restraint seat; mothers' feeling hassled by child restraint seat use; and, mothers' agreement with the lack of need to use a restraint seat when another adult is in a car. Two variables were associated with inconsistent use on long drives: lower subjective norm of husband and frequent child resistance.


CONCLUSIONS
In-car environmental modification and parent education need to be considered to increase child restraint seat use among Japanese households.
Kakefuda
Itsumi
I
Colorado Injury Control Research Center, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, 100 Sage Hall, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1879, USA. kakefuda@lamar.colostate.edu
Yamanaka
Tatsuhiro
T
Stallones
Lorann
L
Motomura
Yoichi
Y
Nishida
Yoshifumi
Y
D001336:Automobiles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires