Ouder-kind socialisatie in het verkeer

Abstract

Background: Child development is known to be influenced by interpersonal relationships within the family. Parents are the foundation of that family structure and they have the ability to shape and modify their child’s safe behavior in traffic. However, the effectiveness of increasing parental involvement in traffic education of children is dependent on several conditions such as parenting, providing a good role model and taking the underlying motivation of children into account. Objectives: The aim of this project was to explore parent-offspring relationships with respect to traffic safety and to come up with recommendations to increase safe behavior of children in traffic by using parents as a possible strategy. Method: A sample of parent-child dyads (N = 1843) completely filled in a questionnaire. Children were between 11 and 17 years old. The instrument measured elements related to parenting (behavior, parenting practices and styles) and included all variables from the theory of planned behavior. Results: The results showed that parents and children tend to have similar opinions with regard to traffic safety and parenting, although the extent to which they agreed or disagreed was statistically different. The analysis of defined safety domains differs from the analysis of overall traffic safety. All the TPB variables contributed significantly to the prediction of safe behavior of children in traffic, as did the included parenting variables. Conclusion: Tackling unsafe behavior of children in traffic requires a holistic approach with attention for the interaction between a child and their parents.