The Relationship between Parenting Styles and the Socialization Skills of Preschool Children

Abstract

The preschool years are a critical period in a child’s development, particularly in shaping social skills that will influence interactions with the surrounding environment. Various factors play a role in this process, one of which is the parenting style applied by parents in daily life. Therefore, this study aims to determine the relationship between parental parenting styles and the socialization skills of preschool children at TKIT Qu At-Tartil within the working area of the Karang Tengah Community Health Center in Sukabumi City. The type of research used is correlational with a cross-sectional approach. The population consisted of all parents with preschool children at TKIT Qu At-Tartil within the Karang Tengah Public Health Center’s service area in Sukabumi City, with a sample of 92 respondents selected using total sampling. The parenting style variable was measured using the validated PSDQ (r = 0.76), with reliability coefficients for democratic (α = 0.819), authoritarian (α = 0.636), and permissive (α = 0.572) styles.The socialization ability variable consisted of 20 Likert-scale items; most were valid (p < 0.05), except items 3, 7, 11, 13, and 15, which were excluded. Reliability testing showed α = 0.816. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using Somers'd's test. Most respondents practiced a democratic parenting style and had children with adequate social skills, and there was a relationship between parental parenting styles and preschool children’s socialization skills with a p-value of 0.006. There is a relationship between parenting styles and social skills in preschool children.