Parenting Skills and Styles of Teenage and Old Primiparas in La Trinidad, Benguet

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare the parenting skills and styles of the teenage and old primiparas residing in La Trinidad, Benguet. Specifically, it was to compare the level of parenting skills of teenage and old primaparas along the areas of physical, emotional, socio-spiritual and intellectual development. Also, it was to compare the extent to which the teenage and old primiparas show the parenting styles of authorities, authoritarian and permissive. Moreover, it was to compare the level of familial support given to teenage and old primiparas along the areas of emotional, financial and spiritual support. Furthermore, it aimed to determine the correlation between parenting styles and familial support for both the teenage and old primiparas. The respondents consisted of 30 teenage primiparas and 30 old primiparas from selected barangays of La Trinidad, Benguet who were chosen by purposive sampling. The study used survey questionnaires coupled with interview. T-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used for the statistical treatment. The findings revealed that there are no significant differences between the parenting skills and styles teenage and old primiparas. Specifically, there are no significant differences between the level of parenting skills of teenage and old primiparas along the areas of physical, emotional, socio-spiritual, and intellectual development. Also, there are no significant differences between the extent to which teenage and old primiparas practice the parenting styles of authoritative and authoritarian. However, there is a significant difference between the extent to which teenage and old primiparas practice the permissive style of parenting. Moreover, there is a significant difference between the level of familial support given to teenage and old primiparas along the area of emotional support, a highly significant difference along the area of financial support, but no significant difference along the area of spiritual support. Furthermore, for the teenage primiparas, there is no correlation between their parenting skills and parenting styles, a strong correlation between their parenting skills and parenting styles, parenting skills and familial support, and parenting styles and familial support. It was concluded therefore that (1) age does affect the physical, emotional, socio- spiritual, and intellectual care that first-time mothers give to their children; (2) old primiparas are more permissive than teenage primiparas; (3) teenage primiparas receive greater emotional support and financial support than old primiparas; and (4) the parenting skills and styles of teenage primiparas are greatly influenced by the amount of familial support they receive along emotional, financial, and spiritual support. Based on these conclusions, the researchers recommend that health care workers should work together to give proper and correct information to teenage primiparas and old primiparas regarding the care they give to their child and that seminars should be conducted at communities regarding the importance of giving familial support to first-time mothers. For further studies, the following recommendations are given: that future studies should include respondents from other municipalities in Benguet, that a greater number of respondents be involved, and the following variables be included: marital status, educational background, culture, and monthly income.