Parenting Styles, Parenting Practices and Oppositional Behaviour among School Going Boys

Author: Aysha Sheraz

Supervisor: Najma Najam, PhD

Degree: PhD

Year: 2014

University: Institute of Applied Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

The present research was aimed at investigating the relationship between parenting styles, parenting practices and oppositional behaviour among Pakistani school going boys of age ranging 8 to 15 years. In addition, the relationship between oppositional behaviour and attention deficit hyper activity was also examined. A series of studies were carried out to achieve research objectives. Study 1 and study 2 comprised of Translation and estimation of reliability and validity of the scales including Child and Disruptive Behaviour Inventory (Burns, 2010) and Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire respectively (Robinson, Mandelco, Olsen & Hart, 2001). Both of the scales were translated into Urdu with the permission of respective authors. Two scales comprised of several sub scales and were found to be reliable and valid tools of assessment with adequate Cronbach‘s alpha, item-total correlations and significant positive correlations were found between the original scale and the translated Urdu version. A pilot study was carried out to assess the feasibility of a full-scale study. The main study examined the relationship among parenting styles, practices and oppositional behavior in school going boys by using the above mentioned scales. The participants of the study included teachers (N = 40) and parents (N = 400) of boys (N = 200). The study hypothesized a significant positive relationship between authoritarian, permissive style/practices and oppositional behaviour and negative relationship between authoritative parenting styles/practices and oppositional behaviour. It was also anticipated that mothers and teachers reports for boys oppositional behaviour and attention deficit hyper activity will positively correlate with each other. Assessment of oppositional behaviour was conducted in two different settings, school and home using parent and teacher versions of Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behaviour Inventory (Urdu version). The parenting styles of parents (mother and father) were measured by using Parenting Styles and Dimension questionnaire (Urdu version). The results indicated a significant positive relationship among authoritarian and permissive parenting styles/practices of both parents and oppositional behaviour toward adults and toward siblings as reported by mothers and reported by teachers. Hypothesis pertaining to relationship between authoritative parenting styles and oppositional behaviour toward adult and sibling was partially supported. Further, mothers and teachers reports of boys oppositional behaviour toward adults and toward siblings/ peers were positively correlated with each other. Similarly, mothers and teachers reports of boys attention deficit/hyperactivity were positively correlated with each other and further, mothers as well as teachers reported attention deficit hyper activity to be correlated with mothers as well as teacher reported oppositional behaviour toward adult and toward siblings. Findings revealed that fathers self-reported permissive parenting styles explained 4% and mothers3% of the variance in boys oppositional behaviors toward adult and toward siblings respectively. While specific parenting practices (mothers verbal hostility, fathers indulgence and fathers autonomy granting) explained 6% of the variance in boys oppositional toward adults and mothers indulgence and fathers autonomy granting explained 3% of the variance in boys oppositional toward siblings. The findings of the study have implications for teachers and parents.

Keywords: Parenting styles, parenting practices, oppositional behaviour.

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Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245

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