The influence of parenting style towards secondary schools' delinquency behaviour

Abstract

This research was carried out in order to study the problem behaviour among delinquent secondary school students. Two main focus of the study were the delinquency among students and the parenting style practiced by the parents. The focus of the behaviours of the study was physical, verbal, sexual and anti-social which were committed by the students. The parenting style was explored by using Diana Baumrind Parenting Style Model. 354 students across Johor Bahru, Malaysia were involved in the study. They were students who have been committed to delinquency behaviours at school. The data was collected by using Parenting Style Questionnaire. The SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) version 22 was used to analysethe data by generating related analysis such percentages, anova and analysis of regression. The research finding shows that most of the parents practiced the authoritative approach in educating their children at home. However, further analysis shows that there are differences between races as far as the authoritative concern to be practiced regardless how many siblings the family have. Analysis of regression also shows that the parenting style alone cannot be considered as predictors to the delinquency behaviours of the students at school. It is hoped that these findings informed the related parties to be more cautious in educating the children especially at home.