The Influence of Parental Discipline on the Emotional Adjustment of Secondary School Students

The Influence of Parental Discipline on the Emotional Adjustment of Secondary School Students

ABSTRACT

The study examined the influence of parents on children’s emotional adjustment in selected secondary schools in Lagos State. The descriptive survey research design was used in this study to assess the opinions of the respondents using the questionnaire. A total of three hundred and twenty (320) samples were used in this study to represent the entire population of the respondents. Five (5) null hypotheses were tested in this study using a t-test statistical tool at a 0.05 level of significance. The following results were obtained:

1. The role of parents affects their children’s emotional adjustment in school.

2. Difference exists between intact/single parents and their influence on the emotional adjustment of students.

3. There is a significant gender difference in the emotional adjustment of students due to parental discipline.

4. There is a significant difference between the emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline and those who were not.

5. There is a significant difference between the social adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline and those without parental discipline.

At the end of the study, it is recommended that parents should rear their children with good discipline and not leave them to behave as they like. Parents should not spare the rod, in order not to spoil the child. Rather, children should be taught the proper way they should behave, and then, it will be difficult for them to depart from those expected values and norms they were taught by their parents.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Discipline has been defined as a set of rules and regulations, rewards, and punishment administered to teach self-control, increase desirable behavior and decrease undesirable behavior (Okoli, 1996). As Brown (2000) puts it, to discipline someone means to make that individual or individuals follow a laid down code of conduct. In indiscipline, the ultimate goal is to foster sound judgment, positive moral development, and positive social and emotional adjustment.

According to the Bible, God gave Adam and Eve an instruction not to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden, but when they disobeyed, they were promptly punished by God which resulted in sending them out of the Garden. Also, the Bible states that when you spare the rod, you spoil the child. In the same vein, Proverb 13:24 states that “He that spareth his nod hateth his son, but he that loveth him, chasteneth him”. Hence, the influence of parents on the child can be the most important influence given to the child in his/her life because parents are accountable to God for how they influence their children’s lives.

Parental discipline has been in existence since the inception of man. The provision of positive influence by parents gives the child security and emotional adjustment, which assists the child to grow up as a decent member of society (Amos, 2003). The quality of time parents spend with their children is the most important aspect of parenting and the parent-child relationship. This could be day-by-day, hour-by-hour training and instruction to secure the appropriate atmosphere necessary for the child’s growth and emotional development.

Mustapha (2006), stated that parents who have the habits of spending quality time with children, bring up good children who are socially and emotionally balanced in the communities where they live. He went ahead to claim that children who are well behaved and emotionally balanced are normally influenced by effective parental discipline and strong training given to them during the childhood and adolescence stages.

Locke (1963), theorized that the child resembles the black tablet (tabula rasa) at birth and that it is the print made in it that is physically seen. In the same vein, Adamson (2000) admitted that the cultural, educational, financial, and social status of the home have bearing on the child’s emotional adjustment, it is the environment and the type of home that makes a man what he is. Therefore, when and how a child is nurtured and bred, determines who and what the child becomes shortly and the overall social and most importantly, emotional adjustment. Some thoughts concerning education suggested that the task of the parents was mainly to build in the child a strong body and habits that would allow for the capacity of reasoning to develop and that parents could reward good behavior, punish or discipline bad behavior with disgrace and the withdrawal of parental approval and affection as opposed to beating (Arnolds, 2001).

According to Eden (2002), misbehavior ought to be punished, so that a child does not repeat what he termed or saw by society as unwanted behavior. According to him, if bad behavior is left unaddressed by applying disciplinary measures, the child tends to repeat the unwanted behavior, thinking that those behaviors are normal norms or values cherished by society. Waller (2005) opined that parental discipline with love and affection makes a child adjust emotionally, socially, and psychologically to society. He went on to opine that operant conditioning as a form of punishment with artificial consequences for misbehavior could be used. According to him, for a child who used the family car without parental permission, the punishment is that the car is taken from him for some time while or praise and reward, operant conditioning could be used through encouragement and presentation of valuable gifts to the child to encourage him to repeat the valuable norms or behavior so exhibited.

Statement of the Problem

These days, many parents shy away from using disciplinary measures as corrective instruments for remedying children’s bad or unwanted behavior in society. Because of this, child’s negligence or avoidance of parental control through disciplinary actions (discipline), most children these days grow up to lack emotional adjustment. Children nowadays, do not exhibit positive emotional adjustment, they do not feel bad whenever they do wrong or step upon the recommended norms or values stipulated in the society as laid down rules and regulations. This kind of hardened behavior by our youth has caused negative effects on society. The fact that youth do not feel bad about the wrong attitude, exhibited in the society, has resulted in wayward behavior; prostitution; armed robbery; lying, stealing; fraudulent activities; examination malpractices; raping; disrespect, and disobedience to the authorities of the parents, and significant others in the society. This study, therefore, focused on the influence of parental discipline on the emotional adjustment of secondary school students.

Purpose of the Study

The objectives of this study include:

i. To investigate the role of parents in the emotional adjustment of secondary school students.

ii. To identify the extent to which parental discipline has affected the emotional adjustment of students in secondary schools.

iii. To enumerate the different disciplinary measures taken by parents.

iv. To differentiate different categories of single or intact parents that have influenced the emotional adjustment of secondary school students.

v. To suggest solutions to be taken to avoid emotional imbalance while trying to impose discipline on children.

Research Questions

The following questions were raised and answered in the process of carrying out this research.

i. How can the role of parents in the emotional adjustment of secondary school students be investigated?

ii. Is there a differentiation between the different categories of single or intact parents and their influence on the emotional adjustment of secondary school students?

iii. Is there any difference between the emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parents who are disciplinarians and those brought up by parents who are not?

iv. Is there any gender difference in the emotional adjustment of children due to parental discipline?

v. Will the social adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline differ from those who are not?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study.

H1: The role of parents will not significantly affect children’s emotional adjustment in school.

H2: There is no significant difference between intact and single parents and their influence on the emotional adjustment of the students.

H3: There will be no significant gender difference in the emotional adjustment of students due to parental discipline.

H4: There will be no significant difference between the emotional adjustment of students who are brought up by parental discipline and those who are not.

H5: There will be no significant difference between the social adjustment of students who were brought up by parental discipline and those who are not.

Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the findings of this research work will help parents realize their roles in the emotional adjustment of their children in secondary schools. The study will contribute to the extent to which parents could influence the emotions of their children at all levels of their education. It will also be beneficial to teachers, educators, and counselors in dealing with students’ emotional adjustment during their educational careers in school.

Theoretical Framework

The Emotional Theory (Lake, 1980) stated that parental discipline is necessary for the emotional, social, and psychological adjustment of the child. According to this theory, the child is helpless when left without the personal upbringing of the parents and the significant others in the nearby community or environment where the child is nurtured and brought up. In this regard, Lake (1980) opined that the discipline of the child is necessary, as without disciplinary measures in terms of smacking and or punishment when the child is wrong, the child tends to grow up upholding the wrong ideas and negative life and behavior. Arnolds (2000), stated that individuals cannot give what they do not possess. According to him, parents who are not disciplined themselves will find it extremely difficult to instruct their children/wards to toe the part of discipline. He went on to state that most parents who train their children on the part of strictness and absolute discipline are those who themselves are strict, disciplined, and principled as well.

Children who are brought up by authoritative parents (i.e. not completely authoritarians and not completely laizzez affaire parents), tend to rear children whose character conforms to the dictates, norms, and values of the society. As Adamson (2001), put it, no society frowns at positive and good norms. Rather, all societies welcome children or members of the society who are well behaved, who dance to the positive tune of the societal music and values. Therefore, any society in the world welcomes its members whether adults or children, who are well adjusted to the ethics and morals of the larger society. Mundi (1990), theorized that the characters of children solely depend on the upbringing they have while growing up. As he puts it, parental discipline helps children to be either positively or negatively adjusted in any society. For instance, parents who bring up their children/wards in aggressive ways are aggressive and violent because aggression begets aggression while parents who bring up their children/wards in a democratic way, rear up children who are well behaved and who know how to live well in a decent society.

Scope of the Study

This study covered Lagos metropolis especially, the Mainland Local Government Education District.

Definition of Terms

The following terminologies were used in the research work. Some of the operational definitions of the terms are as follows:

Influence: This is what makes an individual take action whether positive or negative.

Parental Discipline: These are the rules and regulations set out by parents which are observed by their children/wards.

Emotional Adjustment: This is the ability to make the right changes in behaviors due to agitation or disturbance occasioned by strong feelings.

Intact Parents: This connotes the family in which there is a unity between father and mother who live together as husband and wife with their children/wards.