Does Marital Status Influence the Parenting Styles Employed by Parents?

Abstract

The current study sought to establish whether parents’ marital status, influence their use of specific parenting styles in Kisauni District, Kenya. A correlational research design was employed to carry out this study. Stratified sampling technique was used to select preschools while purposive sampling technique was used to select preschool children to participate in the study. A sample size of 160 pre-school children together with their parents was purposively selected based on their performance level in curricular activities from 20 pre-schools. A questionnaire and an interview were used to collect data on parents’ demographics and their parenting styles. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to prepare and organize data for analysis to test significance levels between variables at 0.05.  Data were analyzed statistically using descriptive and inferential statistics. One way ANOVA techniques were utilized to establish whether there exist any significant relationships or differences in the means between parents’ marital status and their parenting styles. The findings indicated that parents’ marital status does not influence their parenting styles. The study therefore concluded that there is no significant relationship between parents’ marital status and the parenting styles they employ in bringing up their children.

Keywords: marital status and parenting styles, parenting styles and preschool children