The Impact of Parenting Styles on Acquisition of Deviant Behaviour Among Children Aged 8-18 Years in Western Kenya

Malayi, A.¹, Mauyo, L.W.²*, Nassiuma, B.K.,³, Oduma, R.,⁴ Majanga, E.K.⁵ , AND Lucy, K.L. Mandillah⁴

¹University of Eastern Africa, Baraton P.O. Box 2500-30100, Eldoret., Kenya

²Department Economics, School of Business and Economics, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box 190–50100, Kakamega, Kenya

³Department of quantitative Skills and Entrepreneurship Studies, Moi University, P.O.Box  5497-30100,  Eldoret, Kenya

⁴Deparment of Literature and Language Education, Masinde Muliro University of Science & echnology, P.O. Box 190-50100, Kakamega, Kenya

⁵Department of Educational Foundation, Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology, P.O.Box 190-50100, Kakamega, Kenyaa

Corresponding author Email: lmauyo@yahoo.com Mobile: +254 722 403226

Accepted 11 September 2013

Abstract

In the last 50 years, juvenile delinquency has become a major concern to psychologists, criminologists and the society at large. High increase in juvenile delinquencies, high rate of early school dropouts in both girls and boys, increase in street children and high rate of crime, both in towns and rural settings, can be linked to poor parental guidance in the early child development. The objective of the study was to find out if parenting styles influence acquisition of deviant behavior of children aged between 8 and 18 years. Purposive and systematic random sampling methods were used to select the study area and the sample size respectively. One hundred and eighty five (185) children aged between 8-18 years were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) were used to analyze the data. The result of the study indicated that majority (70.27%) of the respondents have parents comprising of restrictive, authoritarian and permissive styles while 29.73% of the respondents had good and democratic parenting style. Further results revealed that 38.38 percent of the respondents were respectful to authority, 24.32 percent were ordinarily obedient, whereas 16.76 percent were critical of authority and 7.03 percent were deviant. The study recommends democratic style of parenting, upholding the virtue for purity and faithfulness before marriage to curb deviant behavior and the society to extend love to children from single and broken homes.

Keywords: Deviant behavior, juvenile delinquency, parental guidance, parenting style