The effect of parents’ attention on the technology usage of children between the ages of four and six

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the technology usage characteristics of children between the ages of 4-6 and to determine whether these characteristics differ according to parental attention. This research is a relational screening model. The study group of the research consists of 117 children and their parents aged 4-6 years who attend independent kindergartens and kindergartens at elementary schools in Karesi and Altıeylül districts of Balıkesir province in 2018- 2019 academic year. As data collection tool, “Personal Information Form” that includes demographics of children and their parents prepared by researchers, “Technology Use Questionnaire of Preschool Children of 4-6 Years” prepared by researchers, and “Parental Attention for Children Scale” that was developed by Campbell et al. (1986) and adapted by Sucuoglu et al. (2015) in order to determine parental attention for children were used. Descriptive analyses were performed, scale reliability was calculated, distribution of data was examined, and difference tests were applied depending on the distribution. In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) post-hoc tests and independent samples t-test were used. In the Parental Attention for Children Scale, while there was a linear relationship between the mother and father forms and its sub-dimensions; there was a linear relationship between the level of “Attention for Control”, a the sub-dimension of father form, and survey questions. Despite the high interest in control, it was observed that children's use of technology was high.