The Sexual Development: Examining Communication between Parents and Their Children

Abstract

The research aimed to improve parents’ communication language while talking to 3-6 years old children about sexual development. The research was carried out using the experimental model, one of the quantitative research methods. It was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and control groups. Seventy-six parents voluntarily participated in the study, thirty-eight were in the experimental group, and thirty-eight were in the control group. A personal information form and a Sexual Communication Scale for Parents were used as data collection tools. The Online Child Sexual Education and Communication Program were applied to improve the communication language of the parents in the experimental group. The study results showed that the communication language used by the parents while talking to children about sexual development improved after the program. There was a significant difference between the parents' communication language pretest and posttest scores in the experimental group. However, no significant difference was found between the communication language pretest and posttest scores of the parents in the control group. There was a significant difference in pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group parents’ communication language for sexual education.