Page 1 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 143
Effects of Parenting Styles and Academic Hardiness on Achievement
Motivation of Secondary School Adolescent students in Ethiopia
*Dr Mamta Sharma**Tesfaye Girma
*Associate Professor. Department of Psychology. Punjabi University, Patiala
**Ph. D. Research Scholar. Department of Psychology. Punjabi University, Patiala
Abstract
The prime purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parenting style and academic hardiness on
achievement motivation. The data on parenting styles, academic hardiness, and achievement motivation were
collected through self-report questionnaires from a sample of 1006(514 females & 492 males) secondary school
adolescent students selected via multi-stage cluster random sampling technique from eight secondary schools in
Bale Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. It was hypothesized that i) adolescent students who had perceived
their parents’ parenting style as authoritative parents would have higher achievement motivation than their
counterparts who had perceived as authoritarian, permissive and neglectful, ii) adolescent students with high
academic hardiness would have higher achievement motivation compared to their counterparts with low
academic hardiness. The results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests showed that adolescent students who
had perceived their parents’ parenting style as authoritative and authoritarian parents would have higher
achievement motivation than their counterparts who had perceived as permissive and neglectful
(F=21.80**,p<0.01). Results also revealed that adolescent students with high academic hardiness would have
higher achievement motivation compared to their counterparts with low academic hardiness (F=
98.22**,p<0.01). The interaction effect stating that achievement motivation of adolescent students with
authoritative parenting style and high academic hardiness would be higher as compared to adolescent students
with authoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting styles and with low academic hardiness also came out
to be significant (F= 6.86**,p<0.01)
Key Words: Parenting styles, academic hardiness, achievement motivation, adolescent students
1. Introduction
Home is a social institution that provides psychological, emotional and social supports for the children. If an
adequate support is provided to the children by parents within the home, it will lead to the creation of a tough
and well-adjusted personality which is capable enough to successfully face the odds of life (Mirzaei
&Kadivarzare, 2014). Conversely, if home is not adequate enough in supporting the children, it can lead to
several interpersonal conflicts, problems, difficulties and agonies. Similarly, Sternberg, (2009) argued that
parents as the first children’s socializing factors play an important role in satisfying the psychological needs of
children and facilitate the development of independence and autonomy in their children. In relation to
achievement motivation, Shaffer, (2005) noted that the family environment established by parents through their
parenting styles promotes or hinders the development of some specific behaviors such as achievement
motivation. On the other hand, some researchers associate achievement motivation with academic hardiness in
academic settings. For instance, Benishek and Lopez (2001) suggested that the two cognitively oriented
theories, such as Kobasa’s (1979) hardiness theory and Dweck’s (2000) theory of academic motivation might be
useful in understanding the relationship between academic hardiness and achievement motivation. Thus, the
current study intended to investigate the effect of parenting styles and academic hardiness on achievement
motivation of adolescent students in Ethiopian. This is because as to the best knowledge of the researcher, this
problem is not yet effectively addressed in Ethiopian socio-cultural contexts.
1.2. Theoretical Frameworks
Parenting Styles: The first and the most known theoretical tripartite model of parenting style was postulated by
Baumrind (1966, 1967 &1973). In her two-dimensional model of parenting style, she identified three main types
of parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive). Later on Maccoby and Martin (1983) revised
Page 2 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 144
her categories by further separating neglectful parenting style from permissive parenting style and add one more
to Baumrind’s original classification. Generally, in their two-dimensional model, Maccoby and Martin (1983)
classified parenting styles in to four types such as authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful
parenting styles. Thus, Maccoby’s and Martin’s (1983) two-dimensional model of parenting styles frames the
current study.
Academic Hardiness: According to Maddi &Kobasa (2005) and Maddi (2006), hardiness refers to a collection
of interrelated personality qualities that distinguished healthy executives under stress from unhealthy ones. They
have characterized hardiness as the three interrelated attitudes of commitment, control and challenge, which
they call the 3 “Cs”. On the other hand, Benishek& Lopez, (2001) stated academic hardiness as the resilience of
students to academic failure in which hardy students display willingness to be engaged in challenging academic
work, commit to academic activities, and perceive control over their academic performance and outcomes.
Achievement Motivation: Several theories of achievement motivation such as Atkinson’s theory, Attribution
Theory, Expectancy-Value Theory and Self-determination theory have defined and conceptualized achievement
motivation in different ways. However, the most dominant theory of achievement motivation, which has been
extensively employed by different researchers to investigate the effects of contextual and intrapersonal factors
on an individual’s self-motivation, is self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1991; Turner, et, al., 2009;
Hoang, 2007; Pintrich, 2004). According to Deci & Ryan (1991), Self-determination theory (SDT) postulates
that achievement motivation is a multidimensional in nature which encompasses three global types of subscales
such as intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation, indicating person’s behavior as either
intrinsically or extrinsically motivated or amotivated along the self-determination continuum. Thus, Self- determination theory (SDT) supports the current study.
1.3 Parenting Styles, Academic Hardiness and Achievement Motivation
A large body of literature considered that parents, especially through parental styles might critically affect the
social, emotional, intellectual developments of their children and adolescents (Shaffer, 2005; Eccles, Wigfield,
&Schiefele, 1998). With respect to practical evidences related to the links between parenting styles and
achievement motivation, empirical studies which have scrutinized the influences of various patterns of parenting
styles on achievement motivation documented that different types of parenting styles have different influences
on the children’s achievement motivation. Most empirical studies Rosen &D’Andrade, 1959; Rosen, 1962;
Wentzel, 1998; Dornbusch et al.,1987; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Steinberg et al.,1994;Hoang, 2007; Leung et
al.,1998; Boveja, 1998; Turner, Chandler &Heffer, 2009; Gonzalez, Doan Holbein, & Quilter, 2002and
Gonzalez, Greenwood & Hsu, 2001; Grolnick& Ryan, 1989; Leung and Kwan, 1998) have reported that
adolescents from authoritative parents have higher achievement motivation than from non-authoritative parents.
Even though, several aforementioned research findings indicate positive links between authoritative parenting
style and achievement motivation, but negative links between authoritarian parenting style and achievement
motivation, other studies come out with contradictory results. Perceived authoritarian parenting was found to be
positively and significantly related to students' achievement motivation which in turn contributed to their
academic successes (Elizabeth, 2002); Chao,2001); Chen, et.al.,1997).
Regarding the relationship between academic hardiness and achievement motivation, researchers come out with
positive results. According to Hedayati, &Khaeez (2015), one of the most important psychological features or
factors which seems to have inseparable relationship with achievement motivation is psychological hardiness
that has drawn researchers' attention in recent years. Generally, empirical studies that have been conducted
regarding the relationship between hardiness and achievement motivation under different settings come out with
similar findings confirming that there is a significant and positive association between these two psychological
constructs. For example, Taheri &Nasab(2013) ; Hedayati, &Khaeez (2015); Cole, Field & Harris, (2004);
Pintrich, (2004); Bansal &Pahwa (2015); Vashishtha& Joshi (2015); Mirzaei &Kadivarzare (2014) documented
strong positive relationship between academic hardiness and achievement motivation. Similarly, other studies
such as Sheard &Golby,( 2007); Bartone, et al, 1989; Britt, et al, (2001); Florian, et al., (1995); Hosseini
&Hedayati (2014); HosseinPour, et al, (2008); Kamtsios and Karagiannopoulou (2016) revealed that hardy
people show the tendency to believe that they can affect their own experiences and they are able to fight hard
and tough life situations with high achievement orientations.
Page 3 of 10
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 04
April 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 145
2. Hypothesis
1. Achievement Motivation of adolescent students with authoritative parenting style would be higher as
compared to adolescent students with non-authoritative (authoritarian, permissive and neglectful)
2. Achievement Motivation of adolescent students with high academic hardiness would be higher as
compare to adolescent students with low academic hardiness
3. Achievement Motivation of adolescent students with authoritative parenting style and high academic
hardiness would be higher as compared to adolescent students with authoritarian, permissive and
neglectful parenting styles and high academic hardiness.
4. Achievement Motivation of adolescent students with authoritative parenting style and low academic
hardiness would be higher as compared to adolescent students with authoritarian, permissive and
neglectful parenting styles and low academic hardiness
3. Methodology
3.1. Samples and Sampling Technique: In current study, a multi-stage cluster random sampling technique
was employed to select the participants from different regional state, zone and secondary schools. Finally, a
simple random sampling technique was employed to select students from eight secondary schools (grade ten)
found in Bale Zone, Oromia Regional state, Ethiopian. A total of 1006 secondary school adolescent students
(514 or 51.1% females and 492 or 49.9% males), with age ranging from 15-20 years (average =16.98 years and
SD = 1.21), were approached. Firstly, the participants were categorized into four parenting styles based on their
perception of their parents’ parenting styles identified by Parenting Styles (Lamborn et al. (1991) questionnaire.
Secondly, Academic Hardiness Scale (Benishek and Lopez, 2001) was administered to categorize them in two
levels (low and high hardiness). For achievement motivation, the identified participants were administered
achievement motivation Scale (Vallerand et al., 1992).
3.2 Methods of Data Analysis: In the light of stated hypothesis of the study, frequency counts, percentages,
mean and standard deviation were used for preliminary analyses of the data. For the main analyses, ANOVA
(Analysis of Variance), was employed to examine the effects parenting styles and academic hardiness on
achievement motivation.
4. Results and Discussion
The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of parenting styles and academic hardiness
on adolescent students’ achievement motivation. In line with the stated hypothesis, first, based on perception of
their parents’ parenting styles, participants were categorized in to four parenting styles. Secondly, based on their
scores on academic hardiness scales, they were also categorized in two levels (low and high hardiness) on the
criteria of mean plus or minus standard deviation (mean± standard deviation)
Table 1: Summary of Categories of Participants by levels of Academic hardiness and Parenting Styles
Category Parenting styles
Authoritative Authoritarian Permissive Neglectful
High (who scored > 61 on Academic
hardiness scale)
60 60 60 60
Low (who scored < 51 on Academic
hardiness scale)
60 60 60 60
Sub Total 120 120 120 120
Excluded (Average students who scored
between 51 and 61 on Academic
hardiness Scale
140 250 43 93
Over all 260 370 165 213
