Department of Traffic Psychology, Institute of Special Environmental Medicine, Nantong University, 9 Seyuan Road, Nantong, Jiangsu Province 226019, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University, Blvd, CH 415, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
J Safety Res. 2021 Feb;76:56-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2020.11.010. Epub 2020 Dec 15.
Research on risk for child pedestrian injury risk focuses primarily on cognitive risk factors, but emotional states such as fear may also be relevant to injury risk. The current study examined children's perception of fear in various traffic situations and the relationship between fear perception and pedestrian decisions.
150 children aged 6-12-years old made pedestrian decisions using a table-top road model. Their perceived fear in the pedestrian context was assessed.
Children reported greater emotional fear when they faced quicker traffic, shorter distances from approaching traffic, and red rather than green traffic signals. Children who were more fearful made safer pedestrian decisions in more challenging traffic situations. However, when the least risky traffic situation was presented, fear was associated with more errors in children's pedestrian decisions: fearful children failed to cross the street when they could have done so safely. Perception of fear did not vary by child age, although safe pedestrian decisions were more common among the older children.
Children's emotional fear may predict risk-taking in traffic. When traffic situations are challenging to cross within, fear may appropriately create safer decisions. However, when the traffic situation is less risky, feelings of fear could lead to excessive caution and inefficiency. Practical applications: Child pedestrian safety interventions may benefit by incorporating activities that introduce realistic fear of traffic risks into broader safety lessons.
研究儿童行人受伤风险主要集中在认知风险因素上，但情绪状态，如恐惧，也可能与受伤风险有关。本研究考察了儿童在各种交通情况下对恐惧的感知，以及恐惧感知与行人决策之间的关系。
150 名 6-12 岁的儿童使用桌面道路模型做出行人决策。评估了他们在行人环境中的恐惧感知。
当儿童面对更快的交通、更短的与接近的交通的距离以及红色而不是绿色的交通信号时，他们报告了更大的情绪恐惧。在更具挑战性的交通情况下，更害怕的儿童做出了更安全的行人决策。然而，当呈现出风险最小的交通情况时，恐惧与儿童行人决策中的更多错误相关：害怕的儿童在本可以安全过马路时未能过马路。恐惧的感知不因儿童年龄而异，尽管较大的儿童更常做出安全的行人决策。
儿童的情绪恐惧可能预示着交通中的冒险行为。当过马路的交通情况具有挑战性时，恐惧可能会适当做出更安全的决策。然而，当交通情况风险较低时，恐惧的感觉可能会导致过度谨慎和效率低下。实际应用：儿童行人安全干预措施可能受益于将对交通风险的现实恐惧纳入更广泛的安全课程中。
