ADOLESCENTS ATTITUDE TO PARENTAL DISCIPLINE

Transitional period or stage of physical and psychological human development creates in the adolescents a feeling of tension between dependency on their parents and the need to break away. Tension and behaviour disorder, disagreement increases as friends demonstrate a greater impact on one another, new influences on the adolescents that may be in opposition to parents’ values. All these conflicts create in parents mixed feelings and makes parenting a complex task, with specific parenting practices which are less important in predicting child well-being. Base on this the researcher was interested in investigating parenting styles and its influences on adolescents’ behaviour. Null hypothesis was formulated to guide the study. Review of literature was carried on accordingly. A sample of 627 respondents was selected for the study. The selection was done through the stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted. The hypothesis was tested under a 0.05 level of significance. The result of the analysis revealed that parenting styles significantly influence adolescents’ behaviour. Recommendations were made based on the result; that parents and adolescents should maintain cordial relationship and interaction to guide against behaviour misconduct and family conflict, leading to depression, anxiety, aggression and worries on the growing person Introduction A thorough understanding of adolescence in society depends on information from various perspectives, including psychology, biology, history, sociology, education and anthropology. Within all of these perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles (Karson & Wilson, 2004). It is a period of multiple transitions involving education, training, employment and unemployment, as well as transactions from one living circumstances to another. Hence, the end of adolescence and beginning of adulthood varies by country and by function. Adolescents Attitude Furthermore even within a single nation, state or culture there can be different ages at which an individual is considered mature enough for society to entrust them with certain privileges and responsibilities. Such milestones includes driving a vehicle, having legal sexual relations, serving in armed forces or in a jury, purchasing and drinking alcohol, voting, enticing into contracts, finishing certain levels of education and marriage.Adolescents Attitude Adolescence is usually accompanied by an increased independence allowed by the parents and legal guardians, including less supervision as compared to pre adolescence. Adolescence is a search for risk taking, without risk-taking, teenagers would not have the motivation or confidence necessary to make a change in society from childhood to adulthood. Risk taking potentials have lead so many to new found sexual attractiveness, drinking, drug use/addiction, negative attitudes or responses to elders, delinquency, depression, aggressiveness and examination malpractices. Adolescence makes a rapid change in one’s role within a family. Young children tend to ascertain themselves forcefully, but are unable to demonstrate much influence over family decisions until early adolescent (Grotevant, 1997) when they are increasingly view by parents as equals.Adolescents Attitude The adolescent faces the task of increasing independence while preserving a caring relationship with his or her parents (Rawlins, 1992). When children go through puberty, there is often a significant increase in parent-child conflict and less cohesive familial bond. Arguments often concern minor issues of control, such as curfew, acceptance, clothing and the adolescents’ right to privacy (Steinber, 2001) which adolescents may have previously viewed as issues over which their parents had complete authority. Parentsadolescent disagreement also increases as friends demonstrate a greater impact on one another, new influences on the adolescent that may be in opposition to parents’ values. Social media has also played an increasing role in adolescent and parent disagreement (Social Networking, 2012).