Background: Despite the wide availability of protective sports gear (PG), sports-related injuries continue to rise with over 3.5 million cases reported annually among children in the United States. These injuries may result, in part, from misconceptions among parents that PG is not necessary for children above a certain age or in certain sports supervision settings [SS; casual play (CP), official practice (OP), formal games (FG)]. The goal of this study was to determine the age, if any, at which parents of children (ages 4-18 years) would allow their child to play nine sports without PG in different SS. Methods: In an anonymous questionnaire delivered via Amazon Mechanical Turk, parents were asked at which age, if any, they would allow their child to play seven team sports (volleyball, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse) and two individual sports (biking, skateboarding) without PG in three SS. A chi-square test of independence was performed to compare the percentages of parents who would allow their child to participate in these sports without PG in different SS. Results: Significant differences in parental attitudes towards PG use were noted across all sports and SS (Table 1). For every team sport, a greater percentage of parents, on average, reported allowing their child to play without PG in CP (60.4%) compared to OP (30.6%) and FG (23.7%). The average age at which parents would allow their children to play a sport without PG decreased from FG (11.2 years) to OP (10.3 years) to CP (9.2 years) for all seven team sports (Table 2). A greater percentage of parents reported allowing their child to skateboard without PG compared to biking (χ2=18.47, p<.01) though parents indicated a younger age, on average, at which they would allow biking without PG (10.1 years compared to 10.9 years). Conclusion: A substantial number of parents in a nationally representative sample reported that they would allow their children to participate in nine sports without PG. Across all sports, as the SS became less competitive and more recreational, parents became more willing to allow their child to participate without PG. In addition, with regard to casual play, a low supervision setting, there was an alarming tendency to allow younger children to participate in all sports without PG. Considering the increase in youth sports injuries in recent years, it is essential for clinicians to emphasize the use of PG for children of all ages in all SS to avert serious, yet preventable, childhood trauma.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness|
August 01 2019
Safety First? Parental Perceptions Regarding Protective Sports Gear for Youth Participating in Recreational and Competitive Sports
Ruth Milanaik, DO;
Ruth Milanaik, DO
(1)Cohen Children's Medical Center / Northwell Health, Lake Success, NY
Search for other works by this author on:
Tamara F. Kahan, BA;
Tamara F. Kahan, BA
(2)Cohen Children's Medical Center/Northwell Health, Lake Success, NY
Search for other works by this author on:
Aidan Padala;
Aidan Padala
(2)Cohen Children's Medical Center/Northwell Health, Lake Success, NY
Search for other works by this author on:
Prithwijit Das, MSEd;
Prithwijit Das, MSEd
(3)Cohen Children's Medical Center, Lake Success, NY
Search for other works by this author on:
Sharnendra Sidhu, BS
Sharnendra Sidhu, BS
(4)Cohen Children's Medical Center/Northwell, Lake Success, NY
Search for other works by this author on:
Pediatrics (2019) 144 (2_MeetingAbstract): 189.
Citation
Ruth Milanaik, Tamara F. Kahan, Aidan Padala, Prithwijit Das, Sharnendra Sidhu; Safety First? Parental Perceptions Regarding Protective Sports Gear for Youth Participating in Recreational and Competitive Sports. Pediatrics August 2019; 144 (2_MeetingAbstract): 189. 10.1542/peds.144.2MA2.189
Download citation file:
147
Views
Comments