Parenting styles and Juvenile Delinquency : a case of selected families in Rwoho town council Ntungamo District-Uganda.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Juvenile delinquency remains in various settings of Uganda and elsewhere including Rwoho Town Council, Ntungamo District. However, the relationship between parenting styles and juvenile delinquency has been the focus of this study. The study was guided by parenting theories of Baumrid Diana (1967), Maccoby and Martin (1983). Methods: A cross sectional study involving both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted in Rwoho Town Council, Ntungamo District 290 juveniles were randomly selected,12 parents, 1 Mayor, 3 religious leaders, 10 head teachers and teachers and one (1) Community Development Officer were purposively selected. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and interview guides. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of Statistical Package for Social Scientists version 20 and the total scores for each of the study variables computed while qualitative data was analyzed by use of themes. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted to achieve all the objectives. Findings: Of the 290 juveniles enrolled, 15.7% reported juvenile delinquency. Majority of the juveniles reported that their parents used authoritative parenting styles (65.1%). Few of the juveniles reported authoritarian parenting styles (49.4%), permissive parenting style (36.5%) and, disengaged parenting style (22.7%) in Rwoho Town Council. Only authoritative parenting style has a negative significant influence on juvenile delinquency the rest of the parenting styles had a positive significant influence on juvenile delinquency Conclusions and recommendations: There is a dire need for parents to enhance authoritative parenting style and limit all other parenting styles and education implementers such as head teachers are encouraged to prepare specified rules and regulations that focus on proper p