Parenting style associated with perceived children's social behaviour: a study among a group of parents in UNIMAS kindergarten

This study was conducted to study the parenting styles associated with perceived children’s social behaviour. Specifically, this study aimed to find out the differences of perceived children’s social behaviour based on gender of the parent, to find out the differences of perceived children’s social behaviour based on the parent’s level of education and to identify the correlation between authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles with perceived children’s social behaviour. A total of 55 parents with children enrolled at the UNIMAS Kindergarten took part as respondents in this study. A close ended questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection in this study. The respondents were asked to rate how often they engaged in each of the different parenting styles and how often their child exhibited each perceived social behaviour. Descriptive statistical methods such as, frequencies and percentages were used to analyzed demographic data while inferential statistical methods like T-test, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation were used to test each hypothesis. The findings showed that the most common parenting style practiced by the parents is authoritative parenting style. The findings also showed that most of the parents perceived that their children exhibited hyperactive behaviour. According to the results of the statistical analysis, only authoritative and permissive parenting styles have significant relationship with perceived children’s social behaviour. Lastly, it is recommended that parents and counsellors pay special attention toward children’s social behaviour and suggests that future researchers expand the study by wider the scope and focusing on more associated factors in the study