Relationship between responsible behavior levels in preschool children and parental attitudes

Human beings are social entities influenced by their environment. A child's first social environment is the family, which interacts with the child from the moment of birth. Responsibility is also first learned by the child within the family. Early childhood is an essential period for the acquisition of personality and individual identity. During this period, the behaviors and attitudes displayed by parents toward the child affect the personality that the child will develop in later years. Parents' behaviors and attitudes may support children's ability to take responsibility, or they may constitute an obstacle to it. The acquisition of responsibility begins in the family and is supported over time by the individual's own experiences. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of responsible behavior and parental attitudes in preschool children. In this study, the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. The population of the study consisted of the teachers and parents of 60–72-month-old children attending preschool education in public kindergartens and preschool classrooms located in the city center of Bingöl during the 2024–2025 academic year. Convenience sampling was used in the study, and the parents who participated in the research constituted the accessible sample. The sample consisted of the parents and teachers of a total of 608 children, including 297 girls and 311 boys. The Parental Attitude Scale, the Responsibility Levels Scale, and the Demographic Information Form were used to collect the data. According to the results of the study, a positive and statistically significant relationship was found between preschool children's levels of responsible behavior and democratic parental attitude. In contrast, negative and statistically significant relationships were identified between children's levels of responsible behavior and authoritarian, permissive, and overprotective parental attitudes. In addition, parental attitudes were examined according to various demographic variables related to the child, the parent, and the family. The results were discussed with reference to other studies in the literature, and relevant recommendations were presented.