Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education: A Multivariate Analysis in the Turkish Context
Keywords:
Early childhood education, Demographic variables, Parental engagement, Parent involvement, School-family relationshipAbstract
This study examined parent engagement in early childhood education in Türkiye and its associations with demographic characteristics. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 496 parents of children aged 66–72 months recruited through convenience sampling with snowball features. Participants completed the 25-item Turkish Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education Scale, comprising Knowledge and Expectations, Trust and Communication, and Home-Based Engagement. Demographic differences were examined using Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests with false discovery rate correction, followed by multiple linear regression analyses with HC3 standard errors. Overall engagement was high, although Home-Based Engagement was comparatively lower. Respondents with one child reported higher Home-Based Engagement than respondents with two, three, four or more children, whereas the multiple-child groups did not differ significantly from one another. Urban respondents also reported higher Home-Based Engagement than rural respondents. Educational-level contrasts were identified for Total Parent Engagement but not for Home-Based Engagement after adjustment. Home-Based Engagement demonstrated low internal consistency (α = .48; ω = .52). Therefore, findings involving this subdimension should be considered preliminary. The results indicate demographic associations rather than causal effects and require replication using psychometrically stronger measures and more representative samples.
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