PARENTING STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE- A FAMILY MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated parenting styles as predictors of substance abuse- A family management perspectives among adolescents in Kwara State. It also investigated the influence of level of study on the substance abuse among the respondents. It was a descriptive survey of the correlation type. The population consisted of 613,567 adolescents in universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. A sample of 402 adolescents were selected through simple random sampling and proportional sampling techniques to participate. Researchers’ self-developed questionnaire titled “Parenting Styles and Substance Abuse Questionnaire (PSSAQ) was used to collect data. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study.  Data were analysed with mean. Pearson,s Product Moment Correlation, Regression and Analysis of Variance. The findings of the study revealed that i. adolescents in universities in Kwara State experience more of authoritarian, authoritative and permissive parenting styles and less of neglectful parenting style ii. the engage in low level of substance abuse, iii. there was significant relationship between parenting style and substance abuse and iv. there was no significant difference in the substance abuse of the respondents based on level of study. Based on the finding, it was concluded that parenting styles as family management method impact on substance abuse among adolescents. Adolescents that are trained with neglectful and authoritarian parenting styles are likely to engage in substance abuse. It is recommended that marriage counsellors should counsel parents on the use of authoritative and permissive parenting styles rather than authoritarian and neglectful parenting styles as family management method to train their children