A Psychometric Assessment of Parenting Style and Emotional Maturity of Parents in Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The impacts of parenting styles on adolescent’s antisocial behaviors have been established; but the emotional status of the parents and its relationship with the parenting style is yet to be exploited. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the parenting style and emotional maturity of parents. The sample consisted of two hundred and thirty two (232) participants that reside in the Kaduna metropolis of Kaduna state, Nigeria. Participants completed the validated subscale Parenting Styles and Emotional Maturity questionnaires. The scoring was done according to the scoring key in the respective manual of the questionnaire and the results were statistically analyzed and interpreted. The results indicated that there is a significant gender difference in the dimensions of emotional maturity and parenting styles. Females are more emotionally matured (t=2.480, p≤0.05*) and are more authoritative (t=2.344, p≤0.05*) and more involved (t=2.698, p≤0.01**) than male in parenting style practices. Also emotional maturity shows significant correlations with authoritarian (p≤0.000**), permissive (p≤0.000**) and uninvolved (p≤0.000**) not with authoritative style in this study. Certain personality and social differences have been suggested to explain why these differences may emerge. It is recommended that a well-designed counseling and rehabilitation programs be organized for couples and parents so as to help them gain the knowledge and emotional maturity necessary to support their parenting style. Presently, there’s paucity of studies exploring these gender based differences in emotional maturity and parenting style of both parents and the degree of similarities and differences when compared with single parents in Nigeria, and Kaduna state in particular, this is an important area that deserves further investigation.