Abstract:

The study examined the extent to which parents emotional intelligence predicts students' deviant tendencies in public secondary schools in Owerri municipal, Imo State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. Correlation research design was adopted. The population of the study consisted 1277 senior secondary two students in the eight public secondary schools in Owerri Municipal from which sample and respondents of 383 was derived using proportionate (at 40%) and simple sampling technique respectively. The data collection process was handled through a researcher-designed research instrument entitled: Parents' Emotional Intelligence and Students Deviant Scale (PEISDS). The instrument validation was faced evaluated by two experts in the field of Instrument Test and Measurement and the reliability tested at 0.93 using Cronbach Alpha coefficient. The collated data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as bar chart, percentage, mean and linear regression (R2). The result reveals that the extent of emulation of parents among students in public secondary schools in Owerri municipal was low (x̄=3.19). It was also revealed that the only 11.3 percent variation in students' deviant tendencies (SDTs) was explained or predicted by parents' self-awareness (PSA), implying a very low extent prediction. The results equally shown that only 23.3percent variation in SDTs was explained or predicted by parents' self-regulation (PSR), implying a very low extent prediction. It is therefore concluded that parents emotional intelligence (with specific consideration to PSA and PSR) do not contribute significantly in regulating students' deviant tendencies in schools. This perhaps due to secondary category factors such as peer group influence, self-oriented, self-originated, juvenile curiosity and continuous exposure to these sources or instructions. Therefore, it is recommended among others that parents should create and sustain a satisfactory home environment that can adequately retain the interest of their wards, establish attachment affinity in them, and maintain the status quo through a routinely observed conscious effort. This will spur their wards to emulate them and in turn, instill those values irrespective of the contentious influence of the school system (peer group influence and the teachers' mannerism).