Communication patterns and dimensions of parenting: a correlational study

Parents play a vital role in nurturing and educating their children. In the process of rearing a child, parenting dimensions varies from one individual to another; and found to be different amongst ‘father’ and ‘mother’. Having come from different backgrounds, they are different in their belief system, mode of thinking, attitudes, childhood experiences, and perception which reflects in the child. The focus of the present study is to know the communication patterns among parents of tenth grade students and to identify the level of significance on negative dimensions of parenting over positive dimensions of parenting. It was hypothesized that there is no relationship between communication patterns of parents and dimensions of parenting. The sample comprises of one hundred and five adolescent parents, drawn from Bangalore city, using purposive sampling technique. The participants were administered Multi-dimensional Parenting Scale (1985) and a self-designed survey questionnaire on communication patterns of parents with respect to Themes and styles per se., to assesses parent-child communication. Data was analyzed using Correlation to establish the relationship between communication patterns and dimensions of parenting. The study indicates that enhancing positive dimensions of parenting is related to the capacity of the parents to communicate a variety of Themes with their children. This study would significantly contribute in understanding the dynamics of parenting and suggests methods to enhance positive dimensions of parenting.