SRCD 2007

Children's Autonomy: A Comparative Analysis of Fourth-Grade Children's Activities in Taiwan and USA

Joan Newman, Temi Bidjerano, Asil Ali Özdoğru , Chin-Cheng Kao, and Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık

The study examined boys’ and girls’ autonomy of choice of activities in the after-school hours from a cross-cultural perspective. Pre-adolescent children from Taiwan (n= 252) and US (n=195) completed a questionnaire on their usual after-school activities indicating who determines the choice of any particular activity. The children from the two countries differed significantly with respect to proportion of adult chosen time spent in media use, extra-academic activities, extracurricular activities, sports, and routines. In addition, boys tended to report that they engage in academic activities by virtue of their parents’ demands to a greater extent than girls. The paper offers tentative interpretations of the observed cross-cultural and gender differences.

Keywords: Autonomy, after-school activities, cross-cultural psychology

Citation: Newman, J., Bidjerano, T., Özdoğru, A. A., Kao, C.-C., & Özköse-Bıyık, Ç. (2007, March). Children’s autonomy: A comparative analysis of fourth grade children’s activities in Bulgaria, Taiwan and USA. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA, USA.

TASSA 2007

Preferred and Actual Out-of-school Activities: A Comparative Case Study of Turkish Children

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Çağrı Özköse-Bıyık

Human learning and development can best be understood through their analyses in a variety of contexts. Studying children beyond school context provides a more complete picture of their development. Children’s leisure time activities have a considerable impact on their physical, cognitive, social, and affective development. In this study, we looked at children’s preferred and actual out-of-school activities by comparing our results to another study. In the spring of 2004, we surveyed elementary school students from two schools located in Istanbul regarding how they actually spend their after-school time. A nationwide study conducted by Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) in 2006 investigated children’s preferred leisure time activities. Our study asked 98 fourth graders what they usually do on Thursday and Friday after school, and all day Saturday. RTÜK study collected children’s activity data from 805 students between 7 and 10 years of age in 17 cities of Turkey. We found that children mostly spent their out-of-school time in play, watching TV, and reading, respectively. On the other hand, results from RTÜK study indicated that children’s most preferred activity was watching TV, followed by reading, and play. Our preliminary comparisons show that there is a noticeable difference between children’s actual and preferred activity patterns. Preference and actual engagement in activities are shown to be distinct constructs as put forward by King et al. (2006). Disparity between actual and preferred activities substantiates the importance of social norms and cultural values in child reading practices.

Keywords: After-school activities, Turkish children, preference

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Özköse-Bıyık, Ç. (2007, March). Preferred and actual out-of-school activities: A comparative case study of Turkish children. Poster presented at the 3rd annual conference of the Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association, New Haven, CT, USA.