Women’s education levels and its impact on their attitudes towards children’s health development

Abstract

Relations between socio‐economic differences and health have previously been well documented, but women’s education level and relative attitudes towards children’s health development has been seldom found in studies. This paper examines the relation between women’s education level and their attitudes in understanding kindergarten children’s health and its positive development in practice. Kindergartens in Norway offer preschool children of ages one to six years not only care, but also an educational environment that benefits each child. Mothers of children in kindergarten and kindergarten employees were asked to fill out a questionnaire. Twelve kindergartens were included in this research, totalling 310 adults. Overall 196 mothers and 114 kindergarten employees answered questions about their attitudes concerning children’s health. Results indicated that highly educated mothers seem to lay more emphasis on different aspects of positive health development in children than mothers with a lower‐education level. However, kindergarten employees’ responses were unaffected by education level. Instead, there seemed to be a more homogeneous understanding of the factors promoting positive health for children. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of adults’ understanding, knowledge and attitudes towards health‐related issues and their impacts on kindergarten children’s positive health development.

Keywords:

• socio‐economic differences
• women’s education level
• health attitudes
• children’s health development in kindergarten