Investigating the relationship between parents' technology use and their children's knowledge and attitudes towards technology use in preschool

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the technology use status of parents with preschool children and their knowledge and attitudes towards their children's technology use. The study aims to reveal whether there is a difference between parents' and children's technology use and demographic factors (age, gender, educational status, etc.) and parental approaches. In this context, the study is a quantitative study and was conducted with the relational survey method. The population of the study consists of parents whose children attend independent kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education and preschools affiliated to primary schools. Since the population represents a large cluster, sampling was chosen for the study, and 315 parents residing in different provinces were selected as the sample using the convenience sampling method. The data obtained from the study were collected electronically and face-to-face through the ''Personal Information Form'' and ''Technology Use Status Questionnaire'' created by the researcher and the ''Parental Information Scale'' and ''Parental Attitude Scale'' included in the study ''Development of the parental attitude scale in technology use'' created by Kalkan, Kılıç and Duran Yılmaz (2022). Kurtosis and Skewness values of the data collected in the study were examined and it was determined that the data did not show normal distribution. In this context, nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used in the evaluation of the data obtained in order to examine the scales according to the participant characteristics. Spearman correlation analysis test was applied to examine the relationship between the scales. As a result of the analyses, no significant difference was observed between the gender, age, occupation, education level, region of residence (rural/urban) characteristics of the parents and the scale responses, while there was a significant difference between the marital status, income, number of children and the scale responses. When the scale responses of the parents were analyzed according to the demographic characteristics of the children, it was observed that there was a significant difference between the gender factor and the scale responses, while no significant difference was found in age, birth order and number of siblings. In addition, findings on parents' and children's preferences for technological devices, the duration of their use and the purposes of their use were also revealed in the study. In future studies, in-depth analyzes can be conducted to examine parental attitudes according to the gender of children. Studies can be conducted with sample groups with different characteristics to examine the relationship between parents' marital status and their attitudes. Educational activities can be planned to make parents and children conscious users of technology and to improve their digital literacy skills.