POSITIVE PARENTING AND THE OVERALL WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELLING

Abstract

This study aims to determine positive parenting on the overall well-being of children. Positive parenting considers the balance of showing affection and exercising discipline toward the child. Two research questions and hypotheses were formulated and tested to achieve this objective. The study design was a cross-sectional descriptive survey with 250 parents participating. The instrument used for data collection was the Nicomachus positive parenting (NPP) questionnaire which measures various dimensions of positive parenting styles such as nurturing values, strength identification and boosting, parenting context, and involvement in parenting approach towards the child and parental attitudes. The data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, means, standard deviation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results show that many parents are involved in positive parenting styles. It also reveals a significant difference in fathers' and mothers' four dimensions of positive parenting. It was recommended that counsellors, health professionals, teachers, parents and all the stakeholders involved in child upbringing should give adequate attention to parenting styles and create more awareness among the parents through various platforms on the importance and implications of their parenting styles. The study concludes that parenting styles are crucial to a child's development.