Abstract

The study investigated the effects of communication in an authoritarian parenting model on learner participation in early childhood education (ECE) environmental class. The research objectives were to assess the effects of expressiveness, social withdrawal, learner anti-social behavior and emotional balance on participation in an environmental class. The study involved a descriptive survey research design. The study target population was 1,055 respondents which was large hence a 30% sample size according to Kothari & Gaurav (2015) was employed. A multi stage sampling technique of simple random, saturated and purposive sampling was used to get a total sample size of 314.   All the data was gathered, summarized and analyzed by reading the information collected through the research instruments and then, pattern trends and relationships from the information gathered were established. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze qualitative data. Quantitative statistics were used to match authoritarian parenting numbers to learner participation attributes. Frequency distribution tables were used to present the data. The study found out that 91% of the ECE teachers confirmed that learners from Authoritarian Parenting homes could not express themselves well as a result of limited communication existing between the children and the parents and only 9% observed eloquence. Correlation analyses were performed to determine which demographic characteristics should be used as control variables. Regression analyses were also performed to examine the relationship between authoritarian parenting model and children’s classroom participation. The findings of the current study did support the researcher’s assumption that authoritarian parenting model was negatively related to children’s participation in class. For further research it was suggested that since authoritarian mothers and fathers behave differently, studies should be done separately to assess the consistency of the style in both parents.