Correlation Between Parental and Child Habits in Tooth Brushing in Temanggung, Central Java

Background: The observational learning construct in Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory holds that an observer’s behavior changes occur after viewing the behavior of a model. In the famous Doll Experiment, Bandura showed that children will alter their behavior simply by observing parents’ behavior. This study aimed to determine the correlation between parental and child habits in tooth brushing in Temanggung, Central Java. Subjects and Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted at SDN (primary school) Sunggingsari, Temanggung, Central Java. A sample of 81 primary school students was selected for this study. The dependent variable was tooth brushing habit. The independent variable was parent’s habit. The data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by Pearson correlation. Results: There was a weak positive correlation between child tooth brushing habit and parent’s habit (r= 0.21; p= 0.034). Conclusion: Child tooth brushing habit correlates positively with parent’s habit. Keywords: tooth brush, habit, parent, children