Perceived Parenting Styles and Traumatic Experiences among Filipino College Students: Explanatory Sequential Design

Abstract

Parents play a crucial role in educating their children to lead responsible lives and function effectively in society. The study has two major objectives, namely: to establish the connection between perceived parental style and traumatic experience, while the second objective is to investigate the impact of parenting style on the lives of college students. Based on a social constructivist perspective, the study employed an explanatory sequential design to determine the most perceived parenting style and its relationship to traumatic experience, while the qualitative method was used to comprehend the nuances of these experiences. The study found an inverse relationship between parenting style variables and trauma, suggesting that the more authoritative a parent's parenting style is, the less trauma it may cause. Traumatic experiences can produce both beneficial and detrimental effects. The positive effects include goal setting and self-directedness to escape the dark feeling of trauma, and the negative effects include a high sense of emotional avoidance and suppression with a propensity for trauma accumulation that causes mental health issues. The study concludes that, irrespective of demographic profiles, most parents adopt an authoritative style. Furthermore, how students interpret trauma is influenced by the parenting style employed.