Relationship between Parental Behaviour Towards Adolescents and their Manifest Aggression in Nairobi Secondary Schools

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of parental behaviour on adolescent manifest aggression in Nairobi Secondary Schools. lt examined whether adolescent aggression was related to: parents' emotional interactions with adolescents, parental supervision, parental methods : of controlling and disciplining adolescents, consistency of parents in enforcing discipline, family interactions and parents' socio-economic status. The study explored whether there were sex differences in manifest aggression of adolescents. The study sample consisted of 672 secondary school students (336 boys and 336 girls) from 6 schools stratified and randomly selected from Nairobi Province. The Chi-square test of significance at the p < 0.05 level was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that: adolescents whose parents were harsh were significantly more aggressive than th~ adolescents whose parents were loving. Adolescents whose parents were neglecting and rejecting were significantly more aggressive than those adolescents whose parents monitored their movements, activities and social contacts. Adolescents whose parents . ùsed punishment and threats were significantly more aggressive than those adolescents whose parents used inductive reasoning and reinforcement. Adolescents whose parents enforced discipline inconsistently were significantly more aggressive than those adolescents whose parents enforced discipline consistently. Adolescents who experienced tension and conflicts in their families were significantly more aggressive than those from harmonious homes. There were significant sex differences in manifest aggression of adolescents. Boys were found to be more aggressive than girls. Parents' socio-economic status did not seem to influence adolescent manifest aggression: