The Relationship between Parenting Styles and Adolescent Aggression
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2005-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Several other investigators have studied parenting style by relating it to variables like
achievement, adjustment and others. Little research has been made to relate parenting style to
adolescent aggression particularly in Ethiopia.
This research was approached with two objectives; first to investigate the relationship
between parenting styles and adolescent aggression; second to examine the effect of gender on
adolescent aggression. In this investigation data where gathered using systematic random
sampling technique and analyzed using ANOVA and descriptive statistics methods for the 336
selected adolescent students ranging from 15 to 18 years of age. The rationale behind the selection
of these grade levels was that most of the students in these grades and schools are found in the
adolescence stage of development.
In this investigation, the adolescent students rated the perceptions of their own parents or
guardians about the two dimensions of parenting styles, namely responsiveness or acceptance and
demandingness or control. In the same way, the adolescent students rated themselves on how they
perceived their own level of aggression.
Based on these dimensions, the targeted adolescents were assigned to one of parenting
styles by which they were brought up and characterized as authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent
and neglectful. This research found out that the adolescents from authoritarian, indulgent and
neglectful parenting styles manifested significantly more physical, verbal and indirect
aggression (F= 87.84. P<O .001) than adolescents from authoritative parenting style.
However, there is no significant difference in physical aggression among adolescents from
authoritarian, indulgent and neglectful parenting styles. Male adolescents are
significantly more aggressive in physical aggression than female adolescents (F=71.50.
P<O.OOl). In contrast, female adolescents were found to be more significantly aggressive
than male adolescents in indirect aggression (F=88.46. P<O.OOl). However there were no
significant differences in verbal aggression among male and female adolescents (F= 1.45.
P>O. OS). In conclusion, parenting style and gender play some role in determining
adolescent aggression.
Description
Keywords
Education