Exmination of the relationship between privacy awareness and parental attitudes of parents with 4-6 year old children

Early childhood is a critical period during which an individual's personality development, social skills, and value judgments are largely shaped. In this period, parental attitudes play a significant role in raising children as healthy individuals and integrating them into society. In particular, privacy education is of great importance for children to become aware of their emotional and physical boundaries and to develop the ability to protect themselves from potentially harmful situations. In this context, it is thought that parents' level of privacy awareness may be related to the parenting attitudes they exhibit. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the privacy awareness of parents who have children aged 4 to 6 and their parenting attitudes. The sample of the study consists of mothers of 193 children who attended six preschools located in the Battalgazi district of Malatya province during the 2024–2025 academic year. In order to collect data regarding participants' demographic characteristics, a "Demographic Information Form" was used. To assess desirable and undesirable parental attitudes, the "Parenting Attitude Scales (Ages 4–12)" developed by Ögelman and Özyürek was utilized. To measure mothers' awareness regarding privacy education, the "Privacy Education Awareness Scale" developed by İşler and Kanak was employed. The findings of the study revealed a significant relationship between mothers' privacy awareness and the parenting attitudes they demonstrated. It was determined that mothers of preschool-aged children had high levels of privacy awareness and desirable parenting attitudes, whereas their undesirable parenting attitudes were very low. Additionally, demographic variables such as the child's gender and the duration of preschool attendance did not result in a significant difference in either parental attitudes or privacy awareness levels. However, it was found that the child's age had a slight effect on the mothers' desirable parenting attitudes. Moreover, as the number of siblings increased, there was a moderate increase in undesirable parenting attitudes and a slight decrease in privacy awareness levels. Regarding the demographic characteristics of the mothers, no significant differences were found in desirable or undesirable parenting attitudes and privacy awareness in relation to the mother's age or employment status. On the other hand, as the educational level of the mother increased, a significant increase in desirable parenting attitudes was observed.