INVESTIGATING THE CORRELATION OF PARENTAL ATTITUDES WITH EATING BEHAVIOURS OF CHILDREN IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD PERIOD

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of parental attitudes on the eating behaviors of children attending kindergartens. The population of the study consisted of the parents of children attending independent kindergartens located in Battalgazi and Yesilyurt districts of Malatya province in 2018-2019 school year. The sample of the study was composed of the parents of 284 children attending independent kindergartens affiliated with Battalgazi and Yesilyurt Municipalities in accordance with the sample calculation made over the population. “Parenting Attitude Scale” and “Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire” were used to collect the data. According to the results of the normality test and test of homogeneity conducted in the data analysis, while One-way ANOVA and t-test were used for the normally distributed values, Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann Whitney U test were used for the values which were not normally distributed. As a result of the study, no significant difference (p<.05) was observed in the eating behaviors of children in terms of their gender and age. It was observed that authoritarian attitude behavior increased with increasing number of children but decreased with the higher education level of fathers, parents with a single child exhibited the democratic attitude, overprotective attitude and behavior decreased and permissive attitude and behavior increased as the education level of fathers increased. In addition, a positive difference was observed between the authoritarian and permissive attitudes of parents and the eating behaviors of children.