Parental Control and Behaviour of Children on the Internet

Sa？etak The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parental control and the gender of the participants with some behaviours on the Internet. There were 388 fourth-grade primary school students who participated in this research. The results have shown that children are more likely to perceive parental control at a high level. Pupils who perceive a higher level of parental control spend more time per day chatting with friends and searching for interesting information, find motivation for accessing the Internet to look for information related to schoolwork and socializing, and post contents on social media more frequently than those who perceive a lower level of parental control. During the canvassing of gender differences, it was discovered that boys more often emphasize they have an open Facebook profile, they spend more time online during workdays and weekends than girls, and they play games, post and search for interesting information more frequently. Besides, they are more likely to find the motivation for accessing the Internet out of boredom and disclose personal information on Facebook, while no differences were determined while perceiving the gender differences. These data can contribute to a better understanding of the parental role in using the Internet with children