The gap between perceived and actual sizes of everyday things: Implications for infant injury prevention at home

Abstract

Although common types of injuries in infancy and childhood, such as suffocation, burns, and falls, are well-documented, preventing their recurrence remains a challenge. This study investigated adults’ perceptions of the sizes of everyday objects as a means of preventing such injuries at home. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 145 Japanese participants aged 18 to 80 years, asking them to estimate the sizes of six objects associated with these injuries, rate their confidence in their estimates, and provide analogies for objects of equivalent sizes. The results revealed significant differences between participants’ size estimates and the actual dimensions of the objects. No significant differences were observed across age, gender, living with children, or occupation. Confidence in size estimation varied by object and tended to decrease as the gap between actual and estimated sizes widened. Multiple correspondence analysis indicated a relationship between confidence and estimation accuracy, but no relationship with the presence of children aged 0–2 years in the household. In addition, analogy analysis showed that analogies to categories other than objects were particularly prominent. These findings suggest that improving adults’ ability to accurately access object sizes and encouraging analogies with similar-sized items may enhance awareness of potential hazards and support comprehensive injury prevention at home.