Rebuilding The Foundation To Mitigate Moral Decadence in Contemporary Society: An Integration of Ethical Leadership in Parenting (ELIP)

Parents are children’s first compass in the journey of life. Moral decadence in contemporary society is alarming even among teenagers, thus demanding a home-based approach to mitigate crimes, and incivility. This explorative study engaged a descriptive design to assess the integration of ethical leadership experienced at home, including parenting climate’s influence on morals and students’ character development. The multistage sampling technique resulted in 292 sample size drawn from Agbado/Oke-Odo, Zone 2, Education District 1, Alimosho, Lagos State. A 26-item questionnaire was used for data collection with content analysis of Ethical Leadership Theory. The findings showed parents often displayed ethical characteristics while the quality of parenting influence on students’ moral development was very good. Similarly, there is a significant relationship between the quality of parenting influence on students’ moral development and the decision-making process engaged by secondary school students. However, 6% respondents reported sexual abuse at home. The study conceptualised five ethical leadership tasks in parenting (ELIP) which demand parents to Model, Teach, Create, Practice and Encourage (MTCPE), to mitigate moral decadence in society. The study recommended that sexually abused students should report to the school authority for professional help. Parents are advised to adopt especially positive discipline to sustain good behaviours in children rather than negative discipline of physical beatings and emotional abuse.