The role of parents’ gender in parenting attitudes and parental permission to engage in risky play

Play is an essential activity for various developmental aspects of the early childhood years and sometimes this activity includes taking risks, a mixture of emotions ranging from fear and feeling out of control to thrills and enjoyment. However, parents' fears, anxieties and expectations related to their children's safety may discourage children from engaging in risky plays. The aim of this research is to examine the role of parents' gender in parenting attitudes and parental permission to engage in risky play. The sample consisted of 341 parents of four- to six-year-old children, and the data collection relied on Ünüvar and Kanyılmaz's (2017) Scale of Allowing Risky Play and Karabulut Demir and Şendil's (2008) Parental Attitude Scale. Data analysis established that the interaction effect between parents' gender and number of children and between parents' gender and educational level were statistically significant for whether they would permit risky play. However, there was no significant interaction effect on parenting attitudes between their genders. Finally, parents with democratic and permissive parenting styles were more likely and those with authoritarian and overprotective styles were less likely to allow risky play.