The Relationship between Parenting Style and Preschool Children's Social-Emotional Development

Abstract

Parents or primary caregivers play a vital role in fostering children’s healthy development. Parenting style is one of the foremost thought of approaches to grasp the impact of parents on children's development. Children perceive how their parents exhibit emotions and interact with others in a family context. They make a replica of what their parents do to control emotions. By displaying different emotions, moderately expressive parents give children information about the type of emotional state they express and are likely to cause more personal conditions and causes. Therefore, parenting styles are valuable for knowing complex attitudes and behaviors associated with children's outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting styles and preschool children’s social-emotional development. The data were collected from 340 randomly selected private and government preschool children using the parenting dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ) and the social-emotional teacher rating questionnaire. The data analysis was carried out with the help of descriptive and inferential statistical methods. In particular, Two –way ANOVA was used. The results revealed that preschool children who belonged to the authoritative parents and the intact family were better in social- emotional development than their counterparts. Moreover, the results indicated that private preschool children achieved better results in social-emotional than government preschool children. However, there were no statistically significant differences between male and female participants in social-emotional development. It is therefore plausible to conclude that authoritative parenting style and intact family contributed positively to children’s social-emotional competence. The current researcher can conclude that children of authoritative and intact families are sociable, emotionally competent and can play with their peers and manage emotions effectively. Moreover, it can be concluded that private preschool children have more social-emotional skills such as managing emotions, playing skills, communication skills, understanding others' feelings and emotions appropriately. Finally, early childhood development has not yet been thoroughly examined and this study has contributed, particularly in the Ethiopian context, to the literature on parenting style in relation to family structure on children's social-emotional competence.