Parenting styles as predictors of violence among selected public secondary school students in Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Youth violence, both in and out of school, is a worldwide problem. In schools violence is characterized by physical fight amongst students, against school staff or destruction of property in the school. Despite the efforts made by schools, government and the society at large to address the challenges of adolescence violence, it remains a serious problem in schools, for both learners and educators world over. The role of Parents in helping their children face challenges and resolve their issues in non violent manner cannot be underestimated; however, the extent to which parenting styles predetermine children’s violent behaviour remains obscure. The objective of the study was, to establish whether parenting styles significantly predict secondary school students’ violent behaviours. The study was anchored on Bronfernbrenners’ bioecological theory and parenting styles theory by Maccoby and Martins. Questionnaires were used to collect data from students on parenting style and students’ violent behaviours, focus group discussion were conducted to collect in-depth views of students while interviews were used to collect views of guidance and counseling teachers. A population of 8820 (4886 girls and 3934 boys) form two and three students distributed in 132 public secondary schools in Embu County was targeted. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 15 schools. The schools were selected on the basis of more cases of violent behaviors in relation to other schools in the county for the last three years. Reliability for the parenting styles questionnaires and risky behaviours were calculated, an average cronbach alpha (α) of α = 0.82 for parenting styles questionnaires and violent behaviours α = 0.78 were reported. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that, parenting styles has a significant in predicting secondary school student’s violent behavior and that. The study also found that, parenting styles accounts for 62.7% (R2 =0.627, p<0.05) of secondary school students’ violence, while 37.3% is accounted for by other factors. The study, therefore, recommends that the government through the Ministry of Education should review policies on school discipline in order to involve parents as active participants in dealing with students’ violence in schools.