The epidemiology of unintentional injury and violence, including likely causes and individuals' abilities to respond to risks, are closely related to the stages of human development. The epidemiology and prevention of injury are also influenced by the social contexts (i.e., family, community, and socio-cultural) in which human development occurs. The purpose of this article is to describe injury risk and prevention strategies across the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence and associated social contexts. Viewing injury prevention from this perspective suggests that developmentally appropriate interventions conducted over several stages may be more likely to motivate and sustain injury prevention behavior change across a lifetime than a single intervention or a single policy change. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)