The Pattern of Road-Crossing Behavior of Children with Internalized andExternalized Behavioral Problems

he current study aimed to investigate road crossing behavior of three groups of children, namely; typically-developing children, children with internalized problems and children with externalized problems. A total of 79 children aged 7.5 to 10 years in three groups of typically-developing children, children with internalized problems, and children with externalized problems voluntarily participated in the study. Tools included a pedestrian virtual reality environment (Schwebel, Gaines & Severson, 2007) to assess road-crossing behavior and Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale-Children and Adolescents (Barkley, 2012) to measure the deficits in executive functions. The results of MANCOVA with age and scores in BDEFS-CA as the covariates showed that children with internalized problems waited longer on the sidewalk than typically-developing children and children with externalized problems; they had more missed opportunities, and after a traffic gap, they started crossing with more delay. Children with externalized problems had more hits than typically-developing children. Compared to typically-developing children and children with internalized problems, children with externalized problems also exhibited less safe behavior when crossing the roads. Therefore, it’s necessary for the specialists of child traffic injury prevention programs to focus on behavior modification-based interventions, taking into account the pattern of street-crossing behavior of at-risk groups.