Investigating the relationship of parenting styles with creativity and moral development in male preschoolers in Yazd city

The present study seeks to investigate the relationship of parenting styles with creativity and moral development in male preschoolers in Yazd city in the 2012-2013 academic year. The study adopted a descriptive-correlational method. In terms of purpose, the study is an applied research. The population of the study consisted of all male preschoolers in Yazd city in the 2012-2013 academic year (N=4000). From among the population, a number of 120 students were selected as the participants. The data was collected using three standardized scales including Baumrind’s Parenting Style questionnaire (1972), Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (1989) and Kohlberg moral development questionnaire (1958). Beside descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was also used to examine the normality of the data. Subsequently, Pearson correlation formula and stepwise multiple regression analysis was run to analyze the data. SPSS 18 was used to do statistical analysis. The results showed a significant positive correlation of authoritative parenting style with moral development (r=0.48, P<0.01) and creativity. The results also revealed a significant positive correlation between creativity and moral development in the preschoolers (r=0.43, P<0.01). Only could authoritative parenting style and creativity predict moral development so that they could account for about 39 percent of moral development variance in preschoolers (F=26.24, R2=0.39). However, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles could not predict preschoolers’ moral development. The study ends with applicable recommendations in order to develop creativity and morality in preschoolers. Recommendations are also given to researchers for conducting further studies on the topi