PARENTING STYLE AND CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AS PREDICTORS OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract This study focused on parenting style and childhood trauma as predictors of aggressive behaviors among undergraduate students. Total of one hundred and fifteen (115) participants, randomly selected from University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, through simple random sampling technique. Three sets of instruments were used, they are Parenting Style Scale (PSS) is a 31-item scale inventory developed by Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen and Hart, (1995). Childhood Trauma Scale (CTS) is a 28-item scale inventory developed by David, Bernstein and Laura (2003), Aggressive Behaviors Scale (ABS), This is a 29-item scale inventory developed by Buss-Perry, (1992). The design for the study was survey design, while hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze data gotten from this study. The result showed that, age, gender, marital status and religion have none significant relationship with aggression behavior among undergraduate students, authoritative parental style positively significantly predicted aggression behavior among undergraduate students, authoritarian parental style positively significantly predicted aggression behavior among undergraduate students, permissive parental style negatively not significantly predicted aggression behavior among undergraduate students, and also childhood trauma positively significantly predicted aggression behavior among undergraduate students. Key wards: Parenting Style, Childhood Trauma, Aggressive Behaviors