Abstract

This study investigated the influence of parenting styles on the psychosocial adjustment behaviour of secondary school students in the Nasarawa South senatorial district of Nasarawa State. The research design for this work was a descriptive survey design. The Population of the study was 48,879 students from 137 Secondary Schools in the five Local Government Areas of the Southern zone of Nasarawa State. The sample for the study was 380 students selected from five schools in the area of study. Cluster sampling technique and Simple random sampling technique were used to select the respondents. The instruments used for data collection were a structured questionnaire named: parenting Styles Questionnaire, and the students’ psychosocial adjustment behaviour questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that there is a significant influence of parenting styles on the psychosocial adjustment behaviour of secondary school students in Nasarawa South Senatorial District. The study recommended that Parents adopting the authoritarian style should be flexible in their use of such a style in order to ensure that their children adjust psychosocially. The study concluded that Parenting is an onerous and challenging task. Parenting brings up sound and progressive children who are socially adjusted, while inadequate parenting breeds undesirable and ill-adjusted citizens.