parent-child relationship

Parent –Child Relationship, Parent-Child Attachment and Children’s Mental Health Among Adolescents in Secondary Schools (Published)

Every child goes through a period of adolescence before reaching adulthood. It is a complex and uncertain time that worries every parent who does not want the child to grow up outside the norms of society. This period of change is a time when a child can act independently in a positive or negative way. It is for this reason that this study was conducted to determine the contribution of parent-child relationships and parent-child bonding to the prediction of children’s mental health. Parent-child relationships, child-child bonding, and child mental health measures were used to collect data for the study. Four hundred and forty-five (445) participants were recruited using a multilevel sampling method, where a correlation analysis was applied. Using multiple regression to analyze the data, the main results of the study showed that parent-child relationships and parent-child bonding were positively and significantly related to children’s mental health {f (2,442) = 13.3332)}. This means that the two factors together accounted for about 13.2% of the variance. In terms of contribution, the parent-child relationship contributed significantly (βeta = .204 < .05) to the prediction, while the parent-child relationship also contributed significantly (βeta = .162; < .05) to the prediction. These findings indicate that the parent-child relationship and the parent-child relationship are important factors to consider when assessing the mental health of adolescents. It is especially recommended for parents to build a stable family that fosters a parent-child system to avoid provoking hostility between themselves and their children, thereby promoting good mental health.

Keywords: Senior Secondary School, Students, children’s mental health, parent-child relationship, parent–child attachment