Al-Hikmah University Journal

Preschoolers are delayed in the development of socio-emotional skills due to a lack of interactions with parents, caregivers, siblings and peers. This leads to a series of negative feelings such as dissatisfaction, poor academic achievement and behavioural problems. This research investigated parenting styles as correlates of socio-emotional skills of preschoolers in Ilorin East LGA of Kwara State. This study adopted a Correlational survey research design. This study targets Pre-schoolers and their parents from both public and private schools in Ilorin East LGA of Kwara State. Proportional sampling techniques were used to select 362 of the respondents from 7 public preschools and 8 private preschools in Ilorin East LGA of Kwara State. Parenting Styles Questionnaire (PSQ) and Pupils Socio-emotional Skills Rating Scale (PSESRS) were used to eliciting information from respondents. To ascertain the reliability of the instruments, the test-retest method was used within two weeks. Therefore, Cronbach’s Alpha was used to establish the co-efficient at 0.80 and 0.89, respectively. The descriptive statistics of mean and percentage were used to analyse the research questions raised, while inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) were used to test the hypotheses formulated at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between authoritarian parenting style and preschooler’s socio-emotional skill (F (1,180) = 11580.933, P < 0.05); there was a significant relationship between authoritative parenting style and preschooler’s socio-emotional skill (F (1,180) = 12319.100, P < 0.05). It was recommended that parents should be enlightened to have a clear understanding of the significance of parenting styles that could stimulate socio-emotional skills of children within and outside the school through a workshop and seminars.