Peer-reviewed article
Beach safety as a family affair: exploring the role of parents on young adolescents' knowledge, bathing risk perceptions, and behaviours.
Dehez J, Brander RW, Peden AE, Lyser S, Castelle B ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study surveyed 416 young adolescents aged 11-15 years in France about their beach safety knowledge, risk perceptions, and bathing behaviours. Two-thirds reported bathing outside lifeguard-supervised areas in the previous year, and only half could correctly identify rip currents. Parental presence had mixed effects: it reduced perceived risk but increased willingness to enter the water. The research shows parents are the main source of water safety information for adolescents.
Key points
- Two-thirds of pupils reported bathing outside supervised areas within the last 12 months
- Just over half of pupils could correctly define rip currents or supervised bathing areas
- Parental presence decreased odds of declaring higher perceived risks and increased odds of willingness to enter the water
- Older pupils declared lower perceived risks compared to younger ones
- Males were more likely to report entering the water outside supervised areas than females
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causation or account for temporal relationships between parental influence and adolescent behaviour. Self-reported data on risky behaviours may not reflect actual risk-taking practices.
Abstract
Beaches are popular destinations among young adolescents despite the safety risks they may pose. This study aimed to explore how young adolescents are influenced by parents at the beach and how parental presence impacts both their risk perception and their self-reported risk-taking behaviour. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among pupils aged 11-15 years (n = 416) in a public high school in south-western France and assessed their sociodemographic characteristics, water-based recreational use, beach safety knowledge, risk perceptions, and risky behaviours. Pupils were also asked about their likelihood of entering the water outside of lifeguard-supervised areas, as well as their perception of risk, both with and without parental supervision. To analyse pupils' responses, we estimate two cumulative link mixed models with random intercepts for individuals. Two-thirds of pupils reported bathing outside supervised areas within the last 12 months. Just over half of the pupils were able to correctly define rip currents or supervised bathing areas. Our findings highlight the crucial but ambivalent influence of parents' behaviours as parental presence decreased the odds of declaring higher perceived risks and increased the odds of declaring higher willingness to enter the water. Older pupils declared lower perceived risks compared to younger ones, and males were more likely to report entering the water outside of supervised areas than females. Parents constitute the primary information source on water safety for young adolescents. Therefore, beach safety prevention messages should attempt to reach the entire family unit.