Abstract :
The aims of this study are to evaluate the communication patterns between parents and their children of 48-72 months and to analyse the effects of some variables on the communication between parents and their children. The sample was randomly selected and involved the parents of 801 children with the ages of 48-72 months. The data of the study were collected through several data collection tools. General Information Form was used in order to obtain information about parents and their children sampled. Parents’ socio-economic status was determined through the use of Socio-Economic Status Scale (Alpan, 2006). The communication between parents and their 48-72 months children was assessed through the use of Parent-Child Communication Assessment Tool (ABÇİDA) (Arabacı, 2011). ANOVA and for independent samples t-test were employed in order to determine the effects of such variables as socio-economic status, age of the children, the birth order, gender of the children, and parents’ age on the scores of subscales and on the overall scores in the Parent-Child Communication Assessment Tool (ABÇİDA). In regard to the analysis of the communication between parents and their 48-72 months children, it is found that socio-economic status of the parents have effects on their scores of subscales concerning speaking, listening, messages, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically significant differences (p .05). It is also found that the age of the children leads to statistically significant differences in the parents’ scores on the non-verbal communication subscale (p .05). However, the age of the children is found to have no effects on mothers’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, messages, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). Furthermore, the age of the children is found to have no effects on fathers’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, messages and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). On the other hand, there is a statistically significant difference in the fathers’ scores on the subscale of non-verbal communication (p .05). The gender of the children is found to have no effect on parents’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, messages, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). The gender of the children is found to have no effect on mothers’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, messages, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). The gender of the children is found to have no effect on fathers’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, messages, non-verbal communication and empathy leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). The birth order is found to have no effects on the parents’ scores of the subscales of speaking, listening, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). There is a statistically significant differences in the parents’ scores in the subscales of message (p .05). The birth order is found to have no effect on mothers’ scores on the subscales of messages and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant difference (p .05). However, there is statistically significant difference in the mothers’ scores in the subscales of speaking, listening and non-verbal communication (p .05). The birth order is found to have no effect on fathers’ scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). However, there is a statistically significant difference in the fathers’ scores in the message subscale (p .05). The age of the mothers is found to have no effect on their scores on the subscales of speaking, listening, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). There is a statistically significant difference in their scores of the subscales of message (p .05). The age of the fathers is found to have no effect on their scores on the subscales of listening, non-verbal communication and empathy, leading to statistically insignificant differences (p .05). However, there is a statistically significant difference in their scores of the subscale of speaking and message (p .05). Communication is so key in every type of human relationship. It is how we express ourselves and it is how we understand the expressions of others. To communicate is to effectively portray ones feelings to another. We want others to understand the way we feel so we have developed common signals, verbal or non-verbal, amongst ourselves in order to be able to share those feelings. It is very important for parents to be able to communicate openly and effectively with their children. Open, effective communication benefits not only the children, but every member of the family. Relationships between parents and their children are greatly improved when there is effective communication taking place. In general, if communication between parents and their children is good, then their relationships are good as well. As a result, the findings presented above clearly indicate that training programs concerning communication competence should be designed towards young parents with lower socio-economic status and with more children and these parents should be encouraged to participate in these programs to improve the communication between parents and children.
