Investigation of parenting attitudes of parents whose children are at preschool age

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine parental attitudes of parents with children between 48-72 months old, depending upon different variables while they are raising their children. Out of quantitative research patterns, descriptive survey model was used in the research. As data collecting tool, Parental Attitude Scale (PAS), developed by Demir and Şendil (2008) and which consists of 46 items in total and determines democratic, authoritative, overprotective, and permissive attitudes of parents in raising children was used. The sample of the research was composed of 422 parents who were selected in accordance with random sampling method and residing in İstanbul Province, Pendik District. Within context of the research, gender of parents, educational background, average income, family structure, number of children, whether or not they joined a seminar on pediatric development, the amount of time they spend with their child and the gender of the child were determined as independent variables and it was examined, based on these independent variables, whether there is a significant difference in parental attitude points which are dependent variables. In the analysis of data obtained from the research, it was concluded that non-employed parents are relatively more protective than employed parents, the fact that parents joined a seminar on pediatric development decreased the authoritative and overprotective attitude average points and parents adopted a more authoritative manner towards boys compared to girls. Also, in line with research findings, a significant difference was detected on parental attitude scale sub-dimension points depending on the independent variables of parents’ ages, educational background, income level and number of children.