Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Jul 26;18(7):e0288438. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288438. eCollection 2023.
Injuries commonly occur on stairs, with high injury rates in young adults, especially young women. High injury rates could result from physiological and/or behavioral differences; this study focuses on behaviors. The purposes of this observational study were (1) to quantify young adult behaviors during stair descent and (2) to identify differences in stair descent behavior for young adult men versus women. Young adult pedestrians (N = 2,400, 1,470 men and 930 women) were videotaped during descent of two indoor campus staircases, a short staircase (2 steps) and a long staircase (17 steps). Behaviors during stair descent were coded by experimenters. Risky behaviors observed on the short staircase included: No one used the handrail, 16.1% used an electronic device, and 16.4% had in-person conversations. On the long staircase: 64.8% of pedestrians did not use the handrail, 11.9% used an electronic device, and 14.5% had in-person conversations. Risky behaviors observed more in women included: less likely to use the handrail (long staircase), more likely to carry an item in their hands (both staircases), more likely to engage in conversation (both staircases), and more likely to wear sandals or heels (both staircases) (p≤0.05). Protective behaviors observed more in women included: less likely to skip steps (both staircases), and more likely to look at treads during transition steps (long staircase) (p≤0.05). The number of co-occurring risky behaviors was higher in women: 1.9 vs 2.3, for men vs women, respectively (p<0.001). Five pedestrians lost balance but did not fall; four of these pedestrians lost balance on the top step and all five had their gaze diverted from the steps at the time balance was lost. The observed behaviors may be related to the high injury rate of stair-related falls in young adults, and young women specifically.
楼梯上经常发生伤害，年轻人，尤其是年轻女性的伤害率较高。高伤害率可能源于生理和/或行为差异；本研究重点关注行为。本观察性研究的目的是：(1) 量化年轻人下楼梯时的行为；(2) 确定年轻男性和女性在楼梯下降行为上的差异。在两个室内校园楼梯（一个短楼梯[2 个台阶]和一个长楼梯[17 个台阶]）下降过程中，对 2400 名年轻成年行人（1470 名男性和 930 名女性）进行了录像。由实验员对下楼梯时的行为进行编码。在短楼梯上观察到的危险行为包括：无人使用扶手，16.1%的人使用电子设备，16.4%的人进行面对面交谈。在长楼梯上：64.8%的行人不使用扶手，11.9%的人使用电子设备，14.5%的人进行面对面交谈。在女性中观察到的更危险行为包括：更不可能使用扶手（长楼梯），更可能手中拿着物品（两个楼梯），更可能进行交谈（两个楼梯），更可能穿凉鞋或高跟鞋（两个楼梯）（p≤0.05）。在女性中观察到的保护行为包括：更不可能跳过台阶（两个楼梯），更可能在过渡台阶上看踏面（长楼梯）（p≤0.05）。女性中同时存在的危险行为更多：分别为 1.9 和 2.3，男性和女性（p<0.001）。有 5 名行人失去平衡但没有摔倒；其中 4 名行人在最后一级台阶上失去平衡，所有 5 名行人在失去平衡时都将目光从台阶上移开。观察到的行为可能与年轻人尤其是年轻女性与楼梯相关的跌倒高伤害率有关。
