Grade 11 Healthy Active Living Education Additional Supports ...

Violence and Risk Taking Behaviour
Public Profile
Unit #3 Activity #6
Teaching Learning Strategy #1
Teacher Resource (Background Information)
Catholic Profile
Unit #2 Activity #4
Teaching Learning Strategy N/A
Introduction: Leading Causes of Injury and Injury-related Deaths for Adolescents
Injuries are very prevalent among Canadian youth.
• Over 35 percent of Canadian youth in Grades 6, 8 and 10 reported at least one injury
for which a doctor or nurse had treated them. Over 40 percent had been treated for
more than one injury. Many of these injuries included fractures, sprains, strains or
pulled muscles, and cuts, and led to an average of two missed days of school.
• Older students who used alcohol were more likely to be involved in an injury. Young
people with characteristics related to risk-taking, sensation seeking and impulsiveness
are more likely to be injured (Robertson, 1992).
For more information and statistics, see Health Canada, www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
Injuries are the leading cause of death among Canadian children and youth less than 20
years old. Injury mortality statistics include deaths due to unintentional injuries, such as
motor vehicle crashes and falls, as well as deaths due to suicide and assault.
In Canada in 1996, 1280 (16.0/100,000) people under the age of 20 died from injuries Ð
30.5% of all deaths in this age group.
• Injury mortality rates were much higher among males (21.5/100,00) than females
(10.2/100,00), and rates were highest in the 15-19 age group (39/100,000) in which
injuries accounted for 74.8% of all deaths.
• Unintentional injuries (11.1/100,000) accounted for 69.6% of the injury-related
deaths among children and youth less than 20 years of age. Of these, 60.9% were
associated with motor vehicle crashes, which were the leading cause of unintentional
injury-related death of all ages except less than one year.
• Suicide and homicide accounted for 21.2% and 7.4% of the injury deaths
respectively. The suicide rate was highest among 15-19 year olds (11.5/100,000). See
Health Canada, ÒA Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and YouthÓ,
www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
The ÒCanadian Injury Data Mortality Ð 1997 and Hospitalizations Ð 1996-97Ó document
has been prepared to make recent Canadian data on the occurrence of injuries readily
available to the public. The entire document can be downloaded from Health Canada,
Child Injury Division (www.hc-sc.gc.ca).
Grade 11 Healthy Active Living Education (PPL30), Module #3 Violence and Risk Taking Behaviour
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