Exploring Parental Environmentally Significant Behaviors Performed Individually and With Children

Date

2023-9

Author

Demirci, Güneş Ezgi

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This qualitative study aims to explore parents' definitions of various types of private and public sphere environmentally significant behaviors, their individual and collaborative engagement in these behaviors with their children, the barriers encountered while engaging in these behaviors with their children, and potential differences between mothers and fathers in terms of reported definitions, behaviors, and barriers. A phenomenological research design was used. Data were collected from 13 mothers and ten fathers who have children between the ages of three and six and are enrolled in a preschool, using a semi-structured interview protocol. It was revealed that most of the mothers and fathers of young children have accurate, however limited knowledge on the definitions of different environmentally significant behaviors. While parents' reported behaviors align with existing literature, they exhibit low involvement in environmentally responsible consumption, non-activist behaviors in the public sphere, and environmental activism. Resource conservation behaviors are most commonly practiced, whether individually or with children, while activism is less frequent. Both mothers and fathers tend to prefer engaging individually in all types of environmentally significant behaviors rather than involving their children. Common barriers to engaging environmentally significant behaviors with children include time constraints, urban lifestyles, lack of awareness, and mistrust in effectiveness of these behaviors. The main difference observed between mothers and fathers is that mothers engage in environmentally significant behaviors more than fathers, both individually and with their children. Study findings were discussed, offering recommendations for early childhood environmental education stakeholders.

Subject Keywords

early childhood environmental education, parents of preschool children, environmentally significant behaviors, private/public sphere environmentally significant behaviors, barriers

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105385

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis