Purpose: The preschool is the period when the child has the first time of learning and meeting his close environment and family and then with the extended his environment. This period between the ages of 0-8 is commonly defined as the early childhood period which is quite critical period that children are highly affected by the environmental factors and the learning reaches to the fastest level. In this period of time, significant progress is achieved in areas such as physical, social-emotional, and language development for growth and maturation (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2000) and children’s habits, behaviors and attitudes in the following years are acquired.  Since this period is the basement of shaping the personality of children, guidance from a source knowledgeable is required for the developmental domains of children. The sexual development of the child is one of those domains. In contrast to general belief that the concept of sexuality begins on adolescence and it is separate from childhood, it does not appear suddenly during adolescence, sexuality starts when a baby is born (Kurtuncu, Akhan, Tanir& Yıldız, 2015). This points out that parents have an essential role in the development of children’s sexuality, as has been examined in the literature. A recent research indicates that parents often feel anxious and uncomfortable about how best they can communicate with their children about sexual topics. The extent to which the parent feel knowledgeable and comfortable in discussing with their children about sexuality and their use of effective parenting strategies are significantly related to parental confidence (Morawska, Walsh, Grabski & Fletcher, 2015). The parent’s or caregiver’s confidence about their ability of how successful they are in bringing up their children is described as parenting self-efficacy (Jones and Prinz, 2005). Parental self-efficacy generally determines how parents feel competent in their parenting role in general instead of only considering a certain task (Dowling, 2014). Parental self-efficacy and competence have been considered as significant variables in terms of supporting their children’s developmental areas.

Self-efficacy which refers to the belief of an individual regarding the capacity of fulfilling a task and producing significant effects (Flammer, 2001) is especially important in the context of caregivers because it has been stated in the literature that caregivers' self-efficacy perceptions are also important for positive developmental outcomes in their children. People who have high self-efficacy belief generally demonstrates the high level of self-esteem and strong feeling of well-being through taking responsibilities in a specific domain and applying efforts to complete a task(Bandura, 1997). This indicates what extent parents' self-efficacy beliefs play an important role in their children's early childhood development particularly in sexual development which is thought to be a critical aspect in the overall psychological development and education of children and an important place in human personality. Thus, the relationship between the parent’s belief on self-efficacy and their attitudes towards their children’s sexual development are also critical to explore the importance of the role of parents in improving the developmental domains of their children. Therefore, this studyaims to investigate the nature of relationship between the attitudes of parents towards their preschool children’s sexual development and the level of parental self-efficacy.

Research Methods: A correlational research design was adopted for the current study. The quantitative research method was decided to be the most appropriate method in terms of the problem situation and purpose of the study. Quantitative research consists of a process of collecting and analyzing numerical data to be able to generalize the results to the larger community and places (Holton& Burnett, 2005). A sample of 200 parents with preschool children was participated in this study. The participants completed a questionnaire, including demographic information form, attitude towards sexual development of their children and measures of beliefs regarding parental self-efficacy. A General Information Form was used to access demographic information, the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale to determine the self-efficacy beliefs of mothers and fathers, and the Parental Attitude Scale to investigate the attitudes of parents towards the sexual development of their children.Two instruments were applied in the study; Parent Attitude Scale and Parental Self Efficacy. These questionnaires consist of 46 questions in total. A pilot study was conducted with a group of participants to determine the comprehensibility of the questions. Participants completed the survey via the online platform, it was specifically stated that the participants should fill the questions without a gap. In this study, the researchers had the purpose of evaluating the results to examine what extend the attitudes of parents with preschool children towards sexual development and their perception of parental self-efficacy are related to each other and to generalize the outcome to the extended group of individuals.

Expected Results: The analysis of the study is still ongoing. The data collection process faced some difficulties due to the pandemic. However, as the literature indicates, it is estimated that there may be a relationship between parents' perceptions of parental self-efficacy and supporting their children's sexual development. In addition, as stated in the literature, a significant difference is predicted between the expected results of the parents' attitudes towards the sexual development of their children and the perception of parental self-efficacy according to the educational level and socioeconomic level. Parents with a strong perception of parental self-efficacy are expected to be also knowledgeable about the correct and healthy sexual education of their children, as they believe they have the ability to support their children's development.

References Bandura ,A. ( 1977 ).Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review 84: 191–215 Dowling, H. (2014). Parental self-efficacy in early years parenting. Flammer, A. (2001). Self-efficacy. Holton, E. F., & Burnett, M. F. (2005). The basics of quantitative research. Research in organizations: Foundations and methods of inquiry, 29-44. Jones, T. L., & Prinz, R. J. (2005). Potential Roles of Parental Self-Efficacy in Parent and Child Adjustment: A Review. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 341-363. Kurtuncu, M., Akhan, L. U., Tanir, I. M., & Yildiz, H. (2015). The sexual development and education of preschool children: knowledge and opinions from doctors and nurses. Sexuality and disability, 33(2), 207-221. Morawska, A., Walsh, A., Grabski, M., & Fletcher, R. (2015). Parental confidence and preferences for communicating with their child about sexuality. Sex Education, 15(3), 235-248. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2000). A Call for Excellence in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/policy/excellence%20adresinden%20eri%C5%9