The main objective of the study is to assess the influence of parenting behaviors on interpersonal functioning among adolescent students of Hawassa Tabor Secondary School. Parenting behaviors are measured by three dimensions: which are parental support, psychological control and behavioral control. In this research adolescent interpersonal functioning was measured in terms of social initiative and communication with parent. To achieve this objective cross-sectional research design was used. 353 students were participated in this study. A demographic questionnaire, parenting behavior and adolescent interpersonal functioning scale were administered. The findings of the study revealed that majority of secondary school students had low level of interpersonal functioning. Independent t-test for group mean difference revealed that there was no significant mean difference between male and female students in terms of interpersonal functioning. Finally, the result of Pearson correlation indicated that there was significant and low positive relationship between parental support and adolescents’ interpersonal functioning. Parental psychological control had significant and low negative relationship with adolescents’ interpersonal functioning and parental behavioral control had significant and low positive relationship with adolescents’ interpersonal functioning. It was recommended that family-based intervention programs strategies are better to be prioritized by concerned bodies to increase parents’ awareness on parenting behaviors.
