PARENTING STYLES AS CORRELATES OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated parenting styles as a correlates of teenage pregnancy among adolescents in public secondary schools in Enugu State. Four research questions guided the study and four null hypotheses were tested at a .05 level of significance. The correlation research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 9,974 senior secondary school two (SS II) female adolescent students, in the 292 public secondary schools in Enugu State. A sample of 996 female adolescent students was drawn for the study through a multi-stage sampling technique. Structured questionnaires titled Parenting Styles Questionnaire (PSQ) and Teenage Pregnancy Questionnaire (TPQ) were used for data collection. The instrument was face and construct validated by three experts; while the construct validation was ascertained using the Varimax Rotation Method. Internal consistency coefficients of 0.89, 0.91, 0.90, and 0.86; 0.92, and 0.89; were obtained for PSQ and TPQ respectively, using Cronbach Alpha statistical method. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient, simple linear regression, and multiple linear regression statistics were utilized for data analysis. The p-value was used to determine the significant difference at a .05 level of significance for all hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that there was a low positive significant relationship between authoritative parenting style and teenage pregnancy. The result also showed that there was a high positive significant relationship between authoritarian parenting style and teenage pregnancy. It was equally found that there was a highly positive significant relationship between permissive parenting style and teenage pregnancy. Finally, the result indicated that there was a very high positive significant relationship between neglectful parenting style and teenage pregnancy. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that the school management and parents should ensure that the home and school environment are well protected to shield the children from exposure to negative influences, by being concerned about the well-being of the girl child through education about sex, sexuality and the danger inherent. Social welfare agencies (public and private) should re-double their efforts in educating, counselling, and rehabilitation of victims of teenage pregnancy.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/lit/0758/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>