The impact of parenting styles on the personal and social development of children at Elmina-Central Region

Abstract

This research focused on the impact of parenting styles on the personal and social development of children at Elmina. The study set out with the objective of finding out how pupils and parents in selected schools at Elmina perceived the types of parenting styles and their impacts on the personal and social development of children.Descriptive research design was used for the study. A sample of 250 pupils and 250 parents were randomly selected. Questionnaires were used to gather data from the respondents. Out of the randomly selected sample, 241 pupils and 227 parents’ responses to questionnaire items were analyzed using percentages and frequencies.The major findings were that: There were four parenting styles (democratic parenting style, authoritarian parenting style, permissive parenting style and rejecting parenting style) used by parents in Elmina; Majority of parents in Elmina used democratic (authoritative) parenting style; Among the four parenting styles, democratic parenting style had the greatest positive influence on the academic work, physical health and social development of children; Permissive and uninvolving parenting styles also have moderate positive effect on social development and could both result in children becoming immature and lonely.The study recommends that parents need to be educated to use democratic parenting style and combine parenting styles if necessary. Children should also be educated on their rights.