The study investigated Authoritarian and Authoritative parenting styles and as correlates of student’s abuse of drugs in Rivers State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three corresponding null-hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlational design. A sample size of 400 SS I and SS II students drawn from the population of 22,413 secondary school students through simple and non-proportionate stratified random sampling techniques were used for the study. Two instruments used in the study were Parenting Style Scale (PSS) and Abuse of Drugs Inventory (ADI). The instruments were validated by three experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation. The reliabilities of the instruments were determined using Cronbach Alpha techniques. The reliability coefficients obtained were 0.81, 0.77, 0.84 and 0.73 for Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive and Uninvolved Parenting Styles respectively and Abuse of Drugs inventory had a reliability coefficient of 0.79. Multiple Regression and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used in data analysis. The results revealed that Authoritarian and Authoritative Parenting Styles do not significantly correlate with students abuse of drugs. The conclusion drawn from this study is that parenting style had a significant joint contribution in determining the outcome of children’s abuse of drugs, while some parenting styles (e.g. authoritative and authoritarian) are negatively associated with abuse of drugs. Based on the results, recommendations were made, one of which was that parents should adopt authoritative parenting style in rearing their children as this has been shown to minimize the tendency of them to be involved in abuse of drugs.
Citation: Amadi U. and Chujor J. C. (2023) Authoritarian and Authoritative Parenting Styles as Correlates of Students’ Tendency to Abuse Drugs in Rivers State, Southern Nigeria, European Journal of Educational and Development Psychology, Vol.10, No.3, pp.70-81,
Keywords: Adolescents, Authoritarian, Authoritative, Drug Abuse, Parenting style
