Factors that Influence Parenting Styles of Teenage Mothers A Case of Kibra, Nairobi County-Kenya

Abstract

The antagonizing truth all over the world is that young people especially those living in informal settlements often get into parenting early. Globally, 15 million women under the age of 20 give birth, and in Kenya, about 18 percent of adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are parents. These concerns prompted this study whose objectives were to explore the various parenting styles used by teenage mothers, to establish the factors that influenced teenage mothers to adopt their parenting styles, to examine the challenges faced by teenage mothers in parenting and to suggest strategies that could be used to enhance teenage mothers’ parenting styles and coping mechanisms. The study was done in Kibra slums and it adopted a descriptive research design. The sample size of the study was 106 girls. The study adopted snowball and purposive sampling in selecting the sample. Data was collected using interview schedules and key informant interview guides. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS Version 23 and respondents’ voices were captured to reinforce the study findings. The study found that the majority of the respondents used authoritarian parenting style, 33.3% used permissive style 33.3% adopted authoritative parenting styles while 16.7% mentioned a neglectful parenting style. Psycho-socio-economic factors which affected the development of parenting skills both negatively and positively leading to the use of the undesired parenting style by most of the respondents. The study established that financial constraints, inadequate social support, absentee fathers, lack of employment, stigmatization, and low educational achievements among others as key challenges. Recommendations made included empowerment through introduction of parenting skills among teen mothers and economic empowerment through income generating activities among others.