Abstract
The study examines the relationship between paternal parenting styles and the emotional intelligence of secondary school adolescents in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State. The population of the study comprised of 250 final year students of senior secondary school, randomly selected from fifteen secondary schools in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. Two instruments “Paternal Authority Questionnaire” adapted from Buri (1991), and “Emotional Intelligence Scale” (EIS) constructed by the researcher were validated and used to collect data for the study. One research question was raised and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research question while Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that fathers were perceived to be predominantly authoritarian but low in authoritativeness and permissiveness. There was a significant positive correlation between paternal authoritativeness and emotional intelligence, a significant negative correlation between perceived paternal permissiveness and emotional intelligence and no significant correlation between perceived paternal authoritarian and emotional intelligence of the adolescents. It was concluded that authoritative parenting style is the most effective in bringing up emotionally intelligent children. It was recommended among others that school counselors should provide fora for counseling students and parents on the need to be aware of the influence of parenting styles on the emotional development of children.

Keywords
Paternal, Parenting Styles, Adolescents, Emotional Intelligence