Knowledge and awareness level of parents regarding preschool children’s privacy according to demographic characteristics

Abstract

Although the concept of privacy is as old as human history, it has attracted attention as a social need in recent years. An important issue regarding child protection is privacy. This research was carried out to determine the awareness and knowledge of children’s parents on awareness of child privacy right. A total of 107 students’ parents, registered in preschool, consisted of the sample of the study. This research was descriptive research. To determine the relationships between categorical variables, chi-square analysis was used as the statistical methods of the research. Total of 29% of parents stated that they always asked permission from their children to enter their room, 80.4% never took off their children’s clothes nearby someone else, 83.2% never preferred clothes older than their children’s age, 69.2% never showed affection for child’s private parts, 54.2% they never loved their children by battering him/her (biting, squeezing, etc.). It was found that parents with boys preferred more clothes older than their age for their children compared to parents with girls, and the rate of waiting in the toilet with their children decreased as the age of their children increased. It was determined that as the education level of the mothers of the children increased, they entered the children’s room with permission. It was observed that as the education level of fathers increased, they preferred clothes older than their age significantly less for their children and working mothers did not wait in the toilet with their children. Parents’ awareness of privacy can contribute to their awareness of abuse. Overall, this study provided evidence that parents’ awareness of privacy may have universal characteristics as well as aspects specific to sociocultural context.