CORRELATES BETWEEN PARENTING STYLES AND THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: A STUDY OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LAGOS STATE

Background: Emotional intelligence is a relatively recent behavioural model, rising to prominence with the work of Daniel Goleman. The study of parent-child relations has grown tremendously in recent years coupled with its implication on the emotional intelligence of students. This study examined the influence of parenting styles on emotional intelligence of senior school students in Lagos State, the commercial capital of Nigeria and a metropolitan city. Methods: Two hundred and fifty (250) students were randomly selected from five selected schools with age ranging from 15 to 19 years (mean age = 17 years) through stratified and systematic sampling techniques. The study being a survey research, made use of a questionnaire consisting of two validated subscales; the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) and the Parenting Style Inventory (PSI). Three hypotheses were raised and tested. Hypotheses one and three were analyzed using Pearson’s product moment correlation while regression analysis was employed to analyze hypothesis two. Result: In testing the relationship between parenting styles and emotional intelligence, result shows that father’s authoritative parenting style (r = 0.152, p < .005) and mother’s authoritative parenting style (r = 0.227, p < .01) contributed to the prediction of emotional intelligence. Regression analysis shows that of the six predictor variables, only mother’s authoritative parenting style (β = 1.952, t = 2.345, p<.05) could significantly predict the emotional intelligence of senior school students. Conclusion: Being emotionally intelligent adds value to life. Emotions are important to our everyday lives; hence, young people should be assisted on how to control their emotions. Parents, teachers and significant others need to provide guidance for the development emotional intelligence of these young impressionable students