Identifying Crosscultural Differences in the Effectiveness of an Information and Free Child Seat Rental Program

Abstract

Porirua (a suburb in Wellington, New Zealand) is a problem area for child restraint use and has been targeted by a variety of government-initiated, and largely ineffective, traffic safety campaigns in recent years (e.g., Gouldsbury, 1999). The present study attempted to increase child restraint use in cars at two Porirua Kindergartens, one predominantly Pacific Nations (Kindergarten A), and the other predominantly New Zealand European (Kindergarten B), by providing parents with information packages and vouchers for free child seat rental. An increase in correct child seat use was not observed at either kindergarten, although all unrestrained children observed during baseline at the predominantly New Zealand European kindergarten changed to wearing seat belts after the intervention. This finding suggests that income limitations per se are not the primary factor maintaining child seat non-use. Discussion focuses on the contradictory findings provided by both previous survey and observational research on the effect of ethnicity and income on child seat use. Potential crosscultural differences in the existence and salience of verbal community effects that may maintain child seat use through the avoidance of social punishment contingencies from other parents within the kindergarten are considered as one possible explanation for the present findings.