Abstract:
This study sought to identity the home based factors that influence discipline
among students in public secondary schools in Nzaui Sub-county, Makueni
County, Kenya. The research objectives of the study were to determine the
influence of parental economic status, parenting styles and family background
on discipline among secondary school students in Nzaui Sub-County. The
research design adopted in this study was the descriptive survey. Due to the
high number of students in the district, the study used simple random sampling
to select a representative sample. The Slovin’s formula was used to sample
385 students and 136 parents for inclusion in the study. The study sampled 10
head teachers who responded to the interview guide. The study sought to
establish the relationship between students’ discipline and the parental
economic status, the parenting styles and the family background. Using the
interview guide to the head teachers, and questionnaires administered to the
students and parents, data was collected from the respondents. It was analyzed
quantitatively using frequencies, percentages, Pearsons’ correlations and
regressions. The study established that indiscipline problems are prevalent in
public secondary schools and that both parental economic status and family
background do not significantly influence the discipline of students. However
the study established that parenting styles do significantly affect student
discipline. The study recommends that parents should find more time of being
involved with their children, be more caring and friendly, in addition parents
who offer relaxed parenting style for their students and have good jobs ought
to be over restrictive to their children by not giving them a lot of freedom.
