Use of child safety seats and booster seats in the United States: A comparison of parent/caregiver-reported and observed use estimates☆

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Safety Res
• Personal Author:
  West, Bethany A. ; Yellman, Merissa A. ; Rudd, Rose A.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Motor-vehicles crashes are a leading cause of death among children. Age- and size-appropriate restraint use can prevent crash injuries and deaths among children. Strategies to increase child restraint use should be informed by reliable estimates of restraint use practices.
  
  Objective:
  
  Compare parent/caregiver-reported and observed child restraint use estimates from the FallStyles and Estilos surveys with the National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats (NSUBS).
  
  Methods:
  
  Estimates of child restraint use from two online, cross-sectional surveys—FallStyles, a survey of U.S. adults, and Estilos, a survey of U.S. Hispanic adults—were compared with observed data collected in NSUBS. Parents/caregivers of children aged ≤ 12 years were asked about the child’s restraint use behaviors in FallStyles and Estilos, while restraint use was observed in NSUBS. Age-appropriate restraint use was defined as rear-facing child safety seat (CSS) use for children aged 0–4 years, forward-facing CSS use for children aged 2–7 years, booster seat use for children aged 5–12 years, and seat belt use for children aged 9–12 years. Age-appropriate restraint users are described by demographic characteristics and seat row, with weighted prevalence and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated.
  
  Results:
  
  Overall, child restraint use as reported by parents/caregivers was 90.8% (CI: 87.5–94.1) (FallStyles) and 89.4% (CI: 85.5–93.4) for observed use (NSUBS). Among Hispanic children, reported restraint use was 82.6% (CI: 73.9–91.3) (Estilos) and 84.4% (CI: 79.0–88.6) for observed use (NSUBS, Hispanic children only). For age-appropriate restraint use, estimates ranged from 74.3% (CI: 69.7–79.0) (FallStyles) to 59.7% (CI: 55.0–64.4) (NSUBS), and for Hispanic children, from 71.5% (CI: 62.1–81.0) (Estilos) to 57.2% (CI: 51.2–63.2) (NSUBS, Hispanic children only).
  
  Conclusion and Practical Application:
  
  Overall estimates of parent/caregiver-reported and observed child restraint use were similar. However, for age-appropriate restraint use, reported use was higher than observed use for most age groups.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Traffic Adult Caregivers Child Child, Preschool Child Restraint Systems Cross-Sectional Studies Humans Infant Infant, Newborn Parents Surveys And Questionnaires United States

  More +
• Keywords:
  Car Seats Child Restraint Hispanic Motor Vehicles
• Source:
  J Safety Res. 79:110-116
• Pubmed ID:
  34847994
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11428119
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  79
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e9a27749467fb80860a9d3a0301c5a039c5800e73b16e92c52f8d0c1f61407a082cc8c9d445389fe657de6fadc0e3449ae36b5fc55912911196933c450f6d359
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164031/cdc_164031_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 354.03 KB ]