INFLUENCE OF PARENTING STYLE ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

Purpose: This study examined the influence of parenting style on academic achievement of students in university of Port Harcourt. The purpose of the study was to determine how authoritative and authoritarian parenting style, broken home and family size influence the academic achievement of students in university of Port Harcourt.Methodology: The study employed a descriptive survey design. The target population under study was all the 45,000-55,000 students in university of Port Harcourt. A purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 200 students from the larger population which was proportionally distributed in 20 departments in the University of Port Harcourt with 10 respondents from each departments. This study used questionnaire for data collection instrument and data was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions while the hypothesis was analyzed using T-test to establish the influence of parenting style on academic achievement of students in university of port Harcourt . The data was presented in tabular form.Findings: The researcher found that the students who performed best experienced authoritative parenting style and therefore, it was the best method of parenting style in relation to academic achievement.Recommendation:  The researcher recommended that parents should consider their children’s opinion and allow them air their views while making some critical decisions in issues, particularly the ones above 18 years.