Author(s): Swaroopa Rani B and Anuradha K

Abstract:

Parenting styles are defined as set of attitudes,rnbeliefs and goals parents have and put into practice in their daily interactionsrnwith their children. Baumrind (1971) has mentioned three types of parentingrnstyles viz., authoritative/democratic, authoritarian and permissive parentingrnstyles. The present study was under taken to know the parenting styles adoptedrnby mothers of pre-schoolchildren. The study sample were mothers of 220rnpreschool children in Tirupati and Hyderabad towns where three types ofrnpre-schools viz., laboratory nursery schools, anganwadi centers and privaternschools were available. Mothers were administered with Parenting StylernQuestionnaire. Results revealed that Majority of the mothers (60.9 per cent)rnwere following authoritative parenting style. Parenting styles adopted byrnmothers did not differ significantly according to the gender of the child. Mothersrndiffered significantly in exercising authoritarian and permissive parentingrnstyles according to age of the child. Mothers differed significantly inrnexercising authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles according to thernbirth order of the children.