Cross-sectional survey assesses unintentional injury prevalence and social factors in Caribbean adolescents, suggesting intervention strategies.
Key Points
This study aims to investigate the prevalence and social factors associated with unintentional injury among Caribbean adolescents.
Cross-sectional analysis using data from the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS).
Included a sample of 11,571 students from seven Caribbean countries, grades 6-10.
Used a two-stage cluster sampling design to ensure representativeness.
54.3% of adolescents reported one or more serious injuries in the past year, ranging from 43.1% in Dominica to 59.5% in Jamaica.
Falls (11.4%) were the leading cause of injury, followed by fighting (5.0%) and vehicle accidents (4.3%).
Multivariate regression found associations between injury prevalence and factors such as being male, low socioeconomic status, substance use, psychological distress, and truancy.
Cite This Study
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.