title: Injury prevention among friends: the benefits of school connectedness.
abstract: Unsafe road behaviors, violence and alcohol use, are primary contributors to adolescent injury. Research suggests that adolescents look out for their friends and engage in protective behavior to reduce others' risk-taking and that school connectedness is associated with reduced injury-risks. This study examined the role of school connectedness in willingness to protect and prevent friends from involvement in alcohol use, fights and unlicensed driving. Surveys were completed at two time points, six months apart, by 545 13-14 year olds from seven Australian high schools. Females were significantly more likely than males to report willingness to protect their friends. School connectedness significantly and positively predicted willingness to protect across all three injury-risk behaviors, after accounting for sex and own involvement in injury-risk behaviors. School connectedness may therefore be an important factor to target in school-based prevention programs, both to reduce adolescents' own injury-risk behavior and to increase injury prevention among friends.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic address: rl.chapman@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic address: lisadb@umich.edu.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic address: b.reveruzzi@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reveruzzi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic address: m.sheehan@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheehan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011322:Primary Prevention; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: Adolescent; Injury; Peer protection; School connectedness