The influences of father absence on primary school children's pedestrian behaviors: The mediating effect of self-control

Abstract

Primary school children are vulnerable road users. At this age, children's self-control ability is not mature and still developing, and thus they need more parental companionship and education. However, as China's social and economic development accelerates, many parents living in townlets have chosen to work in big cities. Currently, the effects of the absence of parental education on children's pedestrian safety, or what mechanisms lie behind these effects, are unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the relationship between parental absence and the pedestrian behaviors of primary school children and proposed a mediating model to examine the mediating effect of self-control ability. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 197 elementary school students in grades four to six in a town in Shandong Province, China. A student self-control scale and pedestrian behaviors scale were used in the research. The results were as follows: First, children with absent fathers had low planning ability. Second, as children's planning ability increased, they showed more positive traffic behaviors. Third, planning played a mediating role in the relationship between father absence and the pedestrian behaviors of primary school children; that is, father absence indirectly affected children's positive pedestrian behaviors through planning.

Keywords

• Father absence
• Self-control
• Pedestrian behaviors
• Primary school children