Buddhism, Mindfulness Based Intervention and the Eclectic Parenting Style Construct in Sri Lankan Female Undergraduates

Abstract

Literature states that Authoritative parenting style has a significant role in predicting high quality academic achievement. The hypothesis of this study, while recognizing the positive correlation between authoritative parenting style and academic achievement, investigates the contribution of the demandingness and control of authoritarian parenting and the indulgent responsiveness of permissive parenting towards academic achievement. The religious dimension: Buddhism, is kept a constant and is examined as a contributing factor. Thus the population of the research, middle class, female undergraduates high in academic achievement are Buddhists. Utilizing a quantitative approach the instrument consisted of a Parental Styles Dimensions Questionnaire. A sample of 50 undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka obtained under selective followed by random sampling procedures are the respondents of the study. The mean age for the sample is 23.31 years and all are female. Academic performance was measured through the GPA obtained at the end of the academic year 2014/2015 and all participants recorded an above 3.5 score. As data analysis procedures the study employs descriptive level mean and standard deviation methods. The results indicated that the Authoritative Parenting Style was primarily used by the parents of the undergraduates. But characteristics of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles too had a lesser but significant presence in their upbringing. Thus, based on the evaluation on the tertiary level undergraduate population, it is hypothesized that an eclectic method in parenting contributes towards academic achievement enhanced through maximized Buddhist values founded on mindfulness based intervention.