Abstract
This study compared the personality self-representations of 288 hand injured patients with those of 959 young people (15–25 years old) randomly selected from the general population (noted GP), and with those of 336 unemployed people of all ages in professional training (U) in Lorraine (north-eastern France). The relationship between patients' personality self-representations and injury was also investigated. Personality self-representations included 14 questions: in your own opinion are you sociable?, at ease with others?, serious?, careful?, dynamic?, optimistic?, worried?, irritable?, clumsy?, solitary?, organised?, ambitious?, do you have a sense of responsibility?, and many plans? The patients had similar self-representations to GP except for the items non clumsy (odds ratio adjusted on age and sex OR=2.40,p<0.05) and optimistic (OR=1.70, but 0.05<p<0.10). The frequencies of non irritable, non clumsy and non solitary people were higher in patients than in the U group (OR about 2.40,p<0.01). By contrast, the other items were more favourable for the U group except for the items sociable, organised and having many plans. Self-representation items were significantly related to some socio-demographic data. The work injured workmen having one or more previous work injuries during the last five years were more at ease with others than the other subjects. Among the work injured workmen who had had no previous work injury during this time, the people aged 29 or less (the highest risk age class) were more optimistic than the others (71% vs 49%,p<0.05); a difference was also found for the items at ease with others, careful, dynamic, and non worried, but it was not significant possibly due to the small number of subjects. The sum of these five items differed between the two age groups (3.29±1.49 vs 2.55±1.68,p<0.05). These simple items would provide an interesting approach in terms of personality which could explain in part the excess of work injuries in young people, though the work requirement still seemed to be the highest risk factor.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Caisse Nationale de 1'Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salari és (CNAMTS). Statistiques nationales d'accidents du travail (années 1988, 1989, 1890). Paris: CNAMTS, 1992.
Chau N, Patris A, Courthiat MC, Boitel L, Juillard G, Durand S, Robaux P. Les accidents du travail dans des entreprises de la restauration: Résultats d'une étude épidémiologique dans le Nord-Est de la France. Arch Mal Prof 1987; 48: 303–307.
Chau N, Pétry D, Gavillot C, Guillaume S, Bourgkard E, Gruber M, Monhoven N, André JM. Implications professionnelles des lésions sévères du membre supérieur. Arch Mal Prof 1995; 56: 12–22.
Sandret N. Accidents du travail et maladies professionnelles. Actualité et dossier en santé publique 1993; 3: 10–11.
Belville R, Pollack SH, Godbold JH, Landrigan PJ. Occupational injuries among working adolescents in New York State. JAMA 1993; 2754–2759.
Goldner RD, Fitch RD, Nunley JA, Aitken NS, Urbaniak JR. Demographic and replantation. J Hand Surg (Am) 1987; 12: 961–965.
Guillaume S, Petry D, Chau N, Patris A, André JM, Merle M, Manciaux M. Impact socio-professionnel de l'épicondylalgie: Etude rétrospective entre 1983 et 1987 portant sur 120 sujets. Arch Mal Prof 1990; 51: 37–45.
Tursz A, Lelong N. Activité sportive et santé de l'enfant et de l'adolescent. Santé Publique 1990; 4: 40–47.
Tursz A. Epidémiologie et prévention des accidents dans l'enfance et l'adolescence. Symposium francoisraélien. Paris: INSERM, 1989.
Tursz A, Crost M. Sports-related injuries in children: A study of their characteristics, frequency, and severity, with comparison to other types of accidental injuries. Am J Sports Med 1986; 14: 294–299.
Tursz A. Le risque accidentel chez les adolescents des pays développés: Mortalité, morbidité. Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance 1989; 37: 265–273.
Watson AWS. Sports injuries during one academic year in 6799 Irish school children. Am J Sports Med 1984; 12: 65–71.
Austin GJ, Rogers KD, Reese G. Injuries in high school physical education classes. Am J Dis Child 1980; 134: 456–458.
Gallagher SS, Finison K, Guyer B, Goodenough S. The incidence of injuries among 87,000 Massachusetts children and adolescents: Results of the 1980–81 statewide childhood injury prevention program surveillance system. Am J Publ Health 1984; 74: 1340–1347.
Garrick JG, Requa RK. Girls' sports injuries in high school athletics. JAMA 1978; 239: 2245–2248.
Donato F, Assanelli D, Marconi M, Corsini C, Rosa G, Monarca S. Alcohol consumption among high school students and young athletes in north Italy. Rev Epidém et Santé Publ 1994; 42: 198–206.
Bijur PE, Stewart-Brown S, Butler N. Child behavior and accidental injury in 11,966 preschool children. AJDC 1986; 140: 487–492.
Amado G. Aspects psychologiques des accidents chez l'enfant. La Revue de Pédiatrie 1976; 12: 89–94.
Rey S, Courtois X, Zmirou D, François M, Oberle D, Navet J. Evaluation d'une action éducative contre les accidents d'enfants. Pédiatrie 1993; 48: 727–733.
Blimkie CJR, Lefevre J, Beunen GP, Renson R, Dequeker J, Van Damme P. Fractures, physical activity, and growth velocity in adolescent Belgian boys. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1993; 25: 801–808.
Consoli SM, Cordier S, Ducimetière P. Validation d'un questionnaire de personnalité destiné à repérer des sous-groupes à risque de cardiopathie ischémiques ou de cancer dans la cohorte Gazel. Rev Epidém Santé Publ 1993; 41: 315–326.
Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE). Nomenclature des professions et catégories socioprofessionnelles PCS. Index analytique. Paris: INSEE, 1983.
Armitage P, Berry G. Statistical methods in medical research. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1987.
Mantel N, Haenszel W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst 1959; 22: 719–748.
Tenenhaus M, Young FW. An analysis and synthesis of multiple correspondence analysis, optimal scaling, dual scaling, homogeneity analysis, and other methods of quantifying categorical multivariate data. Psychometrica 1985; 50: 91–119.
Chau N, Patris A, Martin J, Kohler F, Lambert JP. Conception d'un logiciel de traitement et d'interrogations statistiques de données Logist. Int J Biomed Comput 1985; 16: 95–118.
SAS Institute. SAS/STAT User's Guide. Version 6, 4th ed. Cary, NC: SAS Institue, Inc, 1989.
Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE). Population, activité, ménage: La France et ses régions, Recensement de la population de 1990. Paris: INSEE, 1990.
Grossarth-Maticek R, Eysenck HJ. Personality, stress and disease: Description and validation of a new inventory. Psychol Rep 1990; 66: 355–373.
Grossarth-Maticek R, Eysenck HJ, Vetter H. Personality type, smoking habit and their interaction as predictors of cancer and coronary heart disease. Person Individ Diff 1988; 9: 479–495.
Temoshok L. Personality, coping style, emotion and cancer: Towards an integrative model. Cancer Surv 1987; 6: 545–567.
Pétry D, Watrin H, Savy JP. Le devenir des traumatisés de la main: A propos de 282 cas. Revue de R éadaptation Fonctionnelle, Professionnelle et Sociale 1985; 13: 18–21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chau, N., d'Houtaud, A., Gruber, M. et al. Personality self-representations of patients with hand injury, and its relationship with work injury. Eur J Epidemiol 11, 373–382 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01721220
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01721220