Influence Of Parental Guidance On The Social Responsibility Norms Of Early Adolescent Girls In Secondary Schools In Kakamega Central Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Many studies that have been carried out on parenting and risky behaviour among early adolescentgirls have focused on school guidance and counseling of youths in general and youth risky behaviour. In particular, little has been done on the influence of parental guidance on the social responsibility norms of early adolescent girls. This study purposed to determine the influence of parental guidance on the social responsibility norms of early adolescent girls. The objectives of this study were therefore to find out the influence of parental guidance, the influence of mother and father parenting styles, the influence of socioeconomic status of parents and influence of residential area, on the social responsibility normsof early adolescent girls in secondary schools. The study was grounded in Hirsch’s Social control theory and Baumrind’s theory of parenting styles. A mixed research method was used in the study which explored parental guidance on social responsibility norms among selected female students in secondary schools in Kakamega Central Sub County. Descriptive survey, correlation design, and Phenomenological studies were used in the study. The study population was 1002 early adolescent girls in Form 1 and their parents in the study area. Purposive, stratified and random sampling techniques were used to select 290 girls secondary schools in Kakamega central Sub County and 290 parents of the participating girls for quantitative and ten from each category for qualitative study. A total of 600 participants were used in the study.Pretesting of questionnaires was carried out to establish the reliability and validity of the instruments; thereafter the questionnaires were administered to the participants by the researcher and interviews carried out to collect data. Pearson Product Moment, One Way ANOVA and t-test were employed in quantitative data analysis while thematic content analysis in inductive approach was use for qualitative data. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between parental guidance and social responsibility norms of adolescent girls, r=.42, p<.01, social responsibility norms of girls in low socioeconomic status and those in high socioeconomic status, t (2, 288) = 1.69, p<.05social responsibility norms of girls from rural and urban areas t (2, 288) = 5.55, p<.05. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores F(3, 286) = 5.59, p<.05 for the influence of mother but no significant difference was found for fathers’ influence on social responsibility norms of girls F(3, 286) =.82, p<.05. Parental guidance was found to have influence on social responsibility norms of adolescent girls.The results should assist social service providers, educators, and others in taking the first steps to diminish risk behaviours and enhance responsible behaviours among girls for better healthy life. The government should institute and maintain programmes and supply guidance materials in all areas, urban and rural, for parents to acquire information on parenting, thus educate their children on how to conduct themselves.