Abstract

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of socio-demographic characteristics of parents on the use of the child car safety seat

METHODS

The data were collected between 07-15 April 2014. This is a descriptive study. Among totally 243 children in 2 kindergartens determined by lot; the study was conducted on 112 children of 92 mothers who had cars, had children aged between 0-9 years and agreed to participate in the study.

RESULTS

It was determined that 67.9% of mothers used child car safety seats, 43.8% gained their knowledge on child car safety seats from television, newspapers, magazines and commercials, and 92.1% of mothers who used child car safety seats bought child car safety seats themselves. 67.1% of families specified that the age of their child to start using the child car safety seat was 0 month-1 year, 39.5% specified they have still used the child car safety seat, 97.4% specified that their child car safety seat was located on the rear seat of their car, 86.8% specified that their child faced forward towards the road while sitting on the child car safety seat, 85.5% specified that they always fasten the child’s safety belt, 59.2% specified that they did not change the child car safety seat as the child grew older

CONCLUSION

It was identified that the educational levels of parents were effective on the use of the child car safety seats. Parents’ not using or misusing the child car safety seats may pose dangers to the travel safety of children.