Parenting Styles and Academic Performance Among Primary School Children in Enugu State, South East Nigeria

Parenting style is widely recognised as a critical determinant of children's academic performance, social competence, and psychological well-being. In Nigeria's South East zone, where educational attainment is culturally prioritised, the relationship between parenting practices and academic outcomes among primary school children deserves empirical scrutiny. This study examines the relationship between parenting styles and academic performance among primary school pupils in Enugu State. A descriptive survey design is applied to 250 parent-child dyads recruited through purposive sampling from five government primary schools in three local government areas. The Baumrind Parenting Styles Questionnaire is administered to parents, and academic performance is measured using end-of-term examination scores in Mathematics, English Language, and General Studies. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey tests are computed using SPSS. Literature from South East Nigerian educational contexts consistently identifies authoritative parenting as the style most positively associated with academic outcomes, while authoritarian parenting is linked to higher performance anxiety. The Baumrind Parenting Typology and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory provide the dual theoretical framework. Findings are expected to confirm the superiority of authoritative parenting on academic performance while highlighting regional cultural modifications of these parenting dimensions. Outcomes will support parent education workshops and school-community engagement programmes in Enugu State. Keywords: parenting styles, academic performance, primary school, Enugu State, South East Nigeria.