A Comparative Study on Parenting Styles of Parents Who Have Children with Special Needs and Typically Developing Children: Basis for Proposed Guidelines in Managing Children with Special Needs Behavior

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the parenting styles of 2 groups of parents; one group comprising those who have children with special needs, the other parents with typically developing children. It also aimed to determine the trends in the relationship of parenting style to variables such as type of locality, sex, age, and educational attainment. A descriptive comparative survey method was utilized to determine the dominant parenting styles between those two groups of selected fathers and mothers using Purposive sampling. Results reflected in which most fathers and mothers with typically developing children and children with special needs in their everyday lives exhibit the three parenting behaviours namely authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive; however there is one parenting behavior that is dominating the others. To reiterate, there is no single factor that directly affects or influences what parenting style to be utilized by fathers and mothers with typically developing children and children with special needs. Most of the time, it is the combination of these factors such as: Parent’s characteristics (type of locality, age, gender and educational attainment) that influence parenting styles exhibited by parents to their children, whether the children have special needs or not. Hence, a basis for proposed guidelines in managing children with special needs behavior is given emphasis into