Preschoolers' social representations of safety and safe behavior

Context and relevance. In the context of reorienting education towards the development of life skills, the importance of fostering a safety culture among preschool children is crucial. Analyzing preschoolers' representations of safety and their safe behaviors is essential for creating programs that help them understand and choose appropriate behavior strategies. Objective. To identify representations of safety and safe behaviors in older preschoolers. Hypothesis. The social representations of older preschoolers regarding safety and safe behavior are mostly specific to the situation and have a normative-evaluative nature, and they depend on the gender factor. Methods and materials. A total of 118 preschool children aged 6–7 years (M = 6,16; SD = 0,4; 52% boys) participated in the study. Data were collected through an individual oral survey. The structure of social representations was analyzed using the method of prototypical analysis developed by P. Verges. Differences between boys and girls were examined using multiway contingency tables. Results. Older preschool children mostly explain these concepts using concrete examples and specific situations. The core of their representations of danger is based on specific hazardous situations, whereas emotional–evaluative characteristics belong to the zone of change. Representations of safety are mostly described as a state of well-being or absence of threat. The core of representations of safe behavior is “good behavior”. When describing actions in response to danger, strategies of avoiding the threat and seeking help predominate. Gender differences were found in preferred action strategies in dangerous situations. Conclusions. The results suggest the need to reconsider the approach to teaching safe behavior to older preschool children. Instead of simply learning rules, we should focus on developing conscious, situation-specific skills for safe behavior.

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