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DIFFERENT PARENTING STYLES

Different Parenting Styles Significantly Influence Problem-Solving Skills in Children

Martha Ramsey

Saint Leo University

Learning & Cognition: PSY 545

Instructor Rotter, Harry

December 1, 2023

Method

The method section of a research proposal performs the role of convincing a reader that methods and design applied in a study will contribute to the solutions of the identified research problem (Sileyew, 2019). The method section helps readers to link the study objectives and study problems (Sileyew, 2019). The subsections of this part are outlined as follows:

Participants

The current study will use a selected population of school-aged children from 5 different schools within the local district and their parents. A total of 120 participants will be selected. The demographic of the participants will comprise of 60 male and 60 female participants. The children will make up a majority of the sample comprising of 70 school going children, and the remaining 50 will comprise of adult parents. The children participating in the study will be aged between 8-12 years, because this is the appropriate age group that can exhibit noticeable problem-solving skills. Additionally, the selected age group of the children will consist of individuals who depend on parental influence to make decisions and solve problems. The parents will comprise of individuals aged between 30 to 52 years of age. The parents will consist of working-class individuals with at least some college education who are still in the working age bracket. This implies that the study will not select a parent who is 60 years old and above. Selection of the research participants for the current study will be done through simple random sampling. Simple random sampling as described by Elfil and Negida (2017) in their article is applied when the target population for a study is accessible. The participating children and their

parents will be easily accessible since the study will use participants from a particular school. The sample will then be selected randomly from the target population.

Measures

The measures applied in a study are crucial in evaluating dependent variables in a study. The current study will use parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ). Previous studies that used PSDQ associated it with high reliability, consistency, and validity of scores (Martins et al., 2018). PSDQ as an item of measurement can be filled by both parents and children participating in a study. The current study will use the PSDQ with 15 items for authoritative parenting which will be grouped into subscales that will include granting of autonomy, support and warmth, and induction or reasoning. 12 items for authoritarian that will be grouped into subscales of verbal hostility, physical coercion, and non-reasoning. Assessment of permissive style will be conducted using 5 scale items which will be labelled from 1 to 5. PSDQ has been used in the assessment of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles with higher chances of reliability (Lee & Brown, 2020). However, a study conducted by Lee and Brown (2020) revealed that cultural settings and adaptation should be considered as confounding factors. The current study will overcome this concern by focusing on participants that are found within a specific locality thereby eliminating the issue of cultural variations.

Apart from PSDQ, the current study will also use Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES). The scale will be used because the current study will determine how parents respond to children with negative emotions, how parents interact and socialize with such children

and how parents help children control their emotions. Studies that have used CCNES for these measurements have reported reliability and consistency of scores (Fernandes et al., 2022). The are six sub-scales that will make the tool relevant for the current study. These include expressive encouragement, emotion-focused, punitive, distress response, problem-focused, and minimizing. The current study will also use the McMaster Family Assessment Device because it includes items that will be relevant when evaluating the dependent variable of the study. The items under the device that will be relevant in the study are family communication, family affective responsiveness, family problem solving, and family affective involvement. Parents and children will report how each element relates to their families by scoring them in a 5-scale item.

Procedure

After identification of the research participants, the next step will include obtaining their consent and permission to participate in the study. The participants will be debriefed about the research and hypothesis being tested. Instructions will be given to the participants on how the study will be conducted and how they will participate in the assessment. Hard copies of the three selected measurement tools that will include the PSDQ, CCNES, and FAD will be distributed to the participants. The participants will then be requested to fill in the assessments and a maximum of 2 hours will be given to each participant for filling in the measurement tools. The filled documents will be collected from the participants for data collection and analysis.

Hypothesis Testing

Research question 1:
Do children raised by authoritative parents solve problems better than those raised by authoritarian or permissive parents?

Research question 2:
Do authoritarian parents limit their children’s decision-making, which may impair their problem-solving capabilities?

Research question 3:
Do permissive parents’ lack of structure and clear expectations make it hard for their children to take initiative and solve problems?

The current study will aim to answer the above listed research questions by following the research method and design that has been identified. Existing literature offers information that can confirm the hypothesis guiding the study. However, this does not imply that the study stops at this stage. The research will be conducted to identify the actual findings as per the selected population and sample in the current study.

References

Elfil, M., & Negida, A. (2017). Sampling methods in clinical research; an educational review.
Emergency, 5(1)

Fernandes, C., Santos, A. F., Fernandes, M., Veríssimo, M., & Santos, A. J. (2022). Caregivers’ responses to children’s negative emotions: Associations with preschoolers’ executive functioning.
Children, 9(7), 1075.

Lee, B., & Brown, G. T. (2020). Confirmatory factor analysis of the parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire (PSDQ) in a sample of korean immigrant parents in New Zealand.
Current Psychology, 39, 2074-2086.

Martins, C., Ayala-Nunes, L., Nunes, C., Pechorro, P., Costa, E., & Matos, F. (2018). Confirmatory analysis of the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) short form in a Portuguese sample.
European Journal of Education and Psychology, 11(2), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.30552/ejep.v11i2.223

Sileyew
, K. J. (2019). Research design and methodology.
Cyberspace, 1-12.