Impact of violent discipline and parenting styles on primary School Learners’ aggressive behaviour in Southwest, Nigeria

This study explored the impact of violent discipline and parenting styles on primary school learners’ aggressive behaviour in Southwest Nigeria. Underpinned by the theories of reactive aggression and social learning, the study utilised the concurrent parallel mixed methods design. The study’s population was comprised of all primary school learners in Southwest, Nigeria, behaviour with 120 as the sample. Data was collected using questionnaires and an interview protocol and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics and inductive thematic analysis via ATLAS.ti. Findings indicate that violent discipline is dominant and normalised in the sampled primary schools, learners exhibit moderate to high aggressive behaviours, and learners’ experiences of violent discipline have devastating consequences. Also, parenting styles significantly predict learners’ aggressive behaviours, while gender differences in learners’ perceptions of aggressive behaviours are not statistically significant. Recommendations and implications for theory and practice are discussed.