Dissertation
A parent-focused intervention to promote safer road-crossing decisions and actions in children
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Autumn 2025
Abstract
The primary goal of this investigation was to test the efficacy of a parent-targeted intervention to improve parental guidance during a joint road-crossing task, and indirectly, children’s road-crossing performance during a subsequent solo road-crossing task. Parents in the intervention condition were trained on using a prospective gap communication strategy, which involved clearly communicating the gap choice to the crossing partner before the gap became available. Parents in the control condition were not given any special training. Parents and children then jointly crossed a virtual roadway with continuous traffic, then children crossed the virtual roadway by themselves. We found that intervention efficacy was high; parents in the intervention condition were more than twice as likely to use the prospective gap communication strategy to communicate a gap to cross to their child compared to parents in the control condition. We also found that children in the intervention condition timed their entry into the roadway significantly more tightly than children in the control condition. During the subsequent child solo crossing task, children in the intervention condition timed their entry into the gap more tightly than children in the control condition. Overall, the results highlighted both the promise and limitations of a simple parent-based intervention that aims to improve children’s road-crossing skills.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A parent-focused intervention to promote safer road-crossing decisions and actions in children
- Creators
- Ariel Nam-yoon Kim
- Contributors
- Jodie Plumert (Advisor)Grazyna Kochanska (Committee Member)Ece Demir-Lira (Committee Member)Sato Ashida (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Psychology
- Date degree season
- Autumn 2025
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- ix, 55 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2025 Ariel Nam-Yoon Kim
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 10/31/2025
- Description illustrations
- graphs, illustrations, tables
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 50-55).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- Children are vulnerable pedestrians, but parents can change that. Previous research has shown that when parents and children crossed virtual roads together, children crossed more safely when their parents prospectively alerted them to a safe gap (O Neal et al., 2021). However, parents only used this strategy on 30% of crossings. Two questions this raises are whether parents can be taught to prospectively alert their child to an upcoming gap when crossing roads together, and whether this experience leads to safer road-crossing outcomes for the child when crossing roads with their parent and also when subsequently crossing alone. We addressed these questions by asking parents and their 6- to 9-year-old children to cross a virtual road with continuous traffic. Prior to this task, parents in the intervention condition were trained on the prospective gap communication (PGC) strategy, which involves communicating the gap choice to their crossing partner before the gap arrives. Parents in the control condition were not given any special training. After the joint road-crossing task, children crossed the virtual roadway by themselves. The intervention significantly increased parents use of the PGC strategy. Children in the intervention condition quickly adopted the PGC strategy as well and timed their entry into the roadway significantly more tightly than control condition children. During the solo crossing task, intervention condition children also timed their entry into the gap more tightly than control condition children. Overall, the results highlighted both the promise and limitations of a simple parent-based intervention designed to improve children s road-crossing skills.
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9985135048702771
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