The Relationship between Parenting Style and a Child’s Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

The relationship between a parents’ parenting style, a child’s emotional intelligence scores, and whether or not the child grew up in a household with two parents was measured in a sample of undergraduate students at Tyndale University. Results indicated that the authoritarian parenting style showed a positive relationship with emotional intelligence. However, the authoritarian and permissive parenting styles showed a partial negative correlation with emotional intelligence. The uninvolved parenting style was found to have a negative relationship with emotional intelligence. Those who reported having two parents in the home during adolescence and had parents who used the authoritative parenting style had higher emotional intelligence. Those who reported permissive or authoritarian parenting had lower emotional intelligence. Interestingly, those with only one parent in their adolescence and reported authoritative or uninvolved parenting styles had a stronger relationship with interpersonal emotional competence. Implications for how a parents’ parenting style and the parental situation during a child’s adolescence, and the relationship they have to a child’s emotional intelligence scores were discussed. Further research should be conducted on the relationship between whether a child has one or two parents in the home during adolescence, parenting styles, and other factors that pertain to a child’s development.