PARENTAL LOVE AND THE PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examined the level of knowledge and involvement of parents about the roles that parental love plays in the psychosocial development of children in North Central Nigeria. The variables examined under the psychosocial developments were self-confidence trust and social skills. The study was descriptive in its design as it collected data from a sampled population of parents from three states in North Central Nigeria, namely, Benue, Kogi and Plateau. Simple random sampling technique was used to obtain these three states out of the seven states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja that make up the North Central. A sample of 300 respondents was composed using purposive and accidental sampling procedures with100 coming from each of the three states. Six (6) research objectives and questions guided the study. The instrument used was a five-point response scale questionnaire titled “Parental Love and Psychosocial Development Questionnaire” (PLAPDQ). PLAPDQ was designed by the researcher using information obtained from the literature reviewed and the researcher's personal experience as a parent. The instrument was face validated by three colleagues in the department of Educational Foundations, University of Jos and its administration was done by the researcher and two research assistants. Data collected were analyzed with the use of mean and standard deviations. One of the findings of the study was that respondents had high knowledge or awareness only on one of the constructs which was self-confidence and not on the remaining two constructs of trust and social skills. The second major finding was that parental love was very low and inadequate to build children's psychosocial development. Based on these findings, suggestions that included the following were put forth: that parents should be deliberate in giving sufficient attention to their children without interruption, do more to provide to meet the basic needs of their children especially at the early stages of their growth and development, praise children's efforts more than results, love children unconditionally, be to them models of good behaviours and to in addition, provide safe environment for them to thrive and make exploits