Parenting Styles, Birth Order and Emotional Intelligence in Young Adults

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the role of different parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) and birth orders (only child, first-born, second-born, third-born, fourth-born) as predictor of emotional intelligence also assess the relationship of parenting styles (as perceived by the children) with emotional intelligence in young adults. It was hypothesized that there would be an association between parenting styles, birth order and emotional intelligence in young adults. Moreover, parenting styles, birth order are likely to predict emotional intelligence in young adults. The sample comprised of 300 university students (N=300), including males (n= 149) and females (n=151) with an age range of 19 to 25 years. Convenient sampling strategy was used to approach participants and data collection from different universities of Lahore. To assess the perceived style of parenting, Perceived Parenting Style Scale by (Divya, Manikandan 2013), birth order by (Larie, 2001) was used and to assess the level of emotional intelligence, Schutte’s Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) was used. Using SPSS 26 Pearson product-moment correlation, hierarchical regression analysis and t test as an additional analysis were applied to compute the results. The study found that there is a positive relationship between authoritative parenting and emotional intelligence and negative relationship between authoritarian and permissive parenting styles and emotional intelligence. Parents would be able to understand the importance of the parenting style they are using and how they are effecting their kid’s mental and emotional health.