Parenting Styles as Correlates of Adolescents Drug Addiction among Senior Secondary School Students in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to find out the relationship between parenting styles and secondary students' drug addiction among adolescents in secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Rivers State Nigeria. The study was guided by three research questions and similar number of null hypotheses. The study adopted a correlation research design. The population of the study consisted of all the 12,000 senior secondary students in thirteen public secondary schools in Obio-Akpor L.G.A. The study had a sample of 1200 students. A proportional stratified sampling technique was used to draw the sample size. Two instruments called Parenting Styles Questionnaire (PSQ) and Adolescent Drug Addiction Questionnaire (ADAQ) were used for the study. The instruments face and content validities were determined. The reliability coefficients of the two instruments were 0.93 for PSQ and 0.89 for ADAQ respectively. Correlation statistics by Pearson was used to answer the research questions, and test the null hypotheses. Result of the study among others is that authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles have a very low positive relationship with adolescents' drug addiction. It was recommended among others that parents, counselors, teachers and all those involved in character formation should try and be more authoritative in their attitude towards children, especially the adolescents.