Personality Characteristics of the Child Accident Repeater

From 8,874 boys and girls aged 4 to 18 in Berkeley-Oakland, California, 684 were selected to represent high-, intermediate-, or low-accident-liability children, based on records of medically attended injuries. Using data from intensive interviews with mothers supplemented with school records, we found a statistically significant relation between accident liability and indexes of extraversion, daring, roughhousing, and other traits tending to expose children to hazards. Similar relations held for traits such as poor discipline, aggressiveness toward peers, and, for girls, attention-seeking, which compete with the child's ability to cope with hazards. Other traits that may impair ability to cope with hazards were also found to be related to accident liability (impulsivity, carelessness, and unreliability) as were several indexes denoting maladjustment.