The Relationship Between Parenting Styles and Kindergarten Children’s Social Skills

The discussion that takes place in this article sheds light on the relationship between parenting styles and social skills among children. The aim of this study is to (i) identify the level of parenting style practised by parents; (ii) identify the level of social skills among children; (iii) identify the level of social skills among children according to the domains; and (iv) determine the relationship between parenting style and social skills among children. The researcher used the parenting style instrument by Baumrind and Preschool and Kindergarten Behaviour Scale (PKBS-2). The parenting style instrument comprises 32 items, whereas PKBS-2 contains 42 items. The instruments have been employed to gather data about parenting style and social skills among children, categorised into three (3) domains namely social cooperation (A1), social interaction (A2) and social independence (A3). From the outcome, parenting style significantly influences the social skills among preschool children. This indicates that a responsive parenting style is important in ensuring that the children’s social skills develop in full form. The impact of this work is to help parents practise a responsive parenting style to ensure that their children will have a formidable set of social skills.