Parenting Styles as Predictors of Academic Stress Among Secondary School Students: Implications for Assessment Excellence in Udi Education Zone, Enugu State

Abstract

The study investigated parenting styles (PS) as predictors of academic stress among secondary school students: implication for assessment excellence in Udi Education Zone of Enugu State. The study was guided by three research questions and three corresponding null hypotheses. It adopted a correlational survey research design. The population and sample for the study were 1,616 and 321 SS 2 students. The proportionate random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. Two validated instruments used were “Parenting Styles Questionnaire (PSQ) and Students’ Academic Stress Questionnaire (SASQ)”. Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. Overall reliability coefficients of 0.72 and 0.79 were obtained for PSQ and SASQ, respectively. Linear regression was used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed among others, that authoritarian parenting style to a very high extent have predictive power on academic stress among secondary school students; that authoritative parenting style to a medium extent has predictive power on academic stress among secondary school students while permissive parenting style to a very low extent, have predictive power on academic stress among students. The implication is that to ensure assessment excellence by reducing academic stress, counsellors should help parents to adopt good parenting style. The researcher recommends among others that counsellors should organize workshops for parents on regular basis to keep them well-informed on how authoritarian parenting style leads to academic stress among students.