A Study on the Safety Consciousness of Elementary Students

초등학생의 안전의식에 관한 연구

This study selected the fifth and sixth graders of elementary school in Jeollanamdo who can express their opinions of safety consciousness and understand the items of questionnaire as the population. It selected 10 elementary schools under the supervision of Jeonnam Board of Education and sampled 700 students randomly from 2-3 classes in the 5th and the 6th grade. One preliminary survey was conducted to revise and complement the contents and forms of questionnaire with 70 students of a school from Apr. 1 to 6, 2004 and this study was conducted from Apr. 10 to 30, 2004. Data of this study were collected by explaining the purport of study to subjects after obtaining approval of principal and teacher of the school and distributing questionnaires. Total 700 questionnaires were distributed and 681 were collected (97%) and 602 were used for final analysis except 79 lacking responses. The results of this study are as follows. According to demographical characteristics of subjects, 'male' students were 302(50.%) and 'female' students were 300(49.8%) by sex and 'the 5th graders' were 285(47.3%) and 'the 6th graders' were 317(52.7%) in grade distribution. Residents at 'apartment house' were 406(67.4%) in residence type, 'going to school by foot' was 477 students(79.2%), 'high school graduates' were 297(49.3%) in fathers' education, 'high school graduates' were 366 (60.8%) in mothers' education, 'professional and office workers' were 231(38.4%) in fathers' job, 'full-time workers' were 283(47.0%) in mothers' job, and the number of siblings was one except myself in 343 students(57.0%). Respondents on the level of class showing 'good' were 340(56.5%) and those on the degree of adaptation to school life showing 'active' were 349(58.0%). On the characteristics related to safety education, 360(59.8%) responded it was 'very necessary', on the frequency of safety education at school for last one year, 339(56.3%) responded they had 'once or twice', on the frequency of safety education by parents, 279(46.3%) responded they 'often' had it, on the level of safety practice by parents, 347(57.6%) responded they practiced it 'frequently', on the source of knowledge of safety, 223(37.0%) responded they got it from 'parents, siblings and relatives', on the degree of recognizing the need of safety education textbooks, 295(38.5%) responded 'it was needed', on the recognition of necessity of teacher for safety education, 271(45.0%) answered it was very necessary', and on the recognition of qualification of teacher for safety education, 370(61.5%) answered it was 'paramedic'. The mean score of safety consciousness of subjects was 2.72 (SD. 21) of full score 3, having high score over mean score. According to each area, the area showing the highest safety consciousness was safety of fire(2.83), followed by home safety(2.76) and first-aid treatment(2.76), traffic safety(2.71), play and leisure safety(2.66) and school safety(2.56). Items showing statistical differences in the degree of safety consciousness according to demographical characteristics were sex(t=-3.11, p=.002), education(t=2.33, p=.021) and number of siblings(F=3.729, p=.011). In the difference of safety consciousness between both sexes, 'female' students(2.75) showed higher safety consciousness than 'male' students (2.69), and the former also showed higher safety consciousness than the latter in all six areas of school safety, play and leisure safety, traffic safety, fire safety, home safety and first-aid treatment, and there were statistical differences in the areas of play and leisure safety, traffic safety, fire safety and first-aid treatment. According to the differences of safety consciousness by grade, 'the fifth graders'(2.74) showed higher safety consciousness than 'the sixth graders'(2.70) and the former also showed higher safety consciousness than the latter in all six areas of school safety, play and leisure safety, traffic safety, fire safety, home safety and first-aid treatment, and there were statistical differences in the areas of fire safety and home safety. In the safety consciousness by the number of siblings, 'single son or daughter' (2.78) was highest and their safety consciousness was also highest in all six areas of school safety, play and leisure safety, traffic safety, fire safety, home safety and first-aid treatment, and there were statistical differences in the areas of school safety, fire safety and home safety, There were statistically remarkable differences in degree of adaptation to school life (F=15.349, p=.000) and perceived schooling level(F=9.552, p=.000). According to the degree of safety consciousness related to characteristics of safety education, there were statistical differences at the degree of recognizing the need of safety education(F=9.797, p=.000), degree of safety education at school(F=2.595, p=.006), degree of safety education by parents(F=12.709, p=.000), degree of practicing safety by parents(F=17.579, p=.000), source of knowledge of safety education (F=2,715, p=.044), necessity of safety education textbooks(F=3.972, p=.008), need of safety teacher(F=4.137, p=.006) and qualification standard of safety teacher(F=3.016, p=.029).