Category: Child Psychology

This Parenting Style Increases Child’s Risk Of Mental Health Issues 150%

The research included over 7,000 children aged 3, 5 and 9 who were tracked as part of the ‘Growing Up In Ireland’ study.

The research included over 7,000 children aged 3, 5 and 9 who were tracked as part of the ‘Growing Up In Ireland‘ study.

Hostile parenting styles increase the chances of children developing mental health issues by 150 percent.

Hostile parenting can involve routine physical punishment, regularly shouting at children, breaking down their self-esteem and handing out random punishments on a whim.

In many ways psychological hostility can be as bad as, or worse, than physical hostility, studies have frequently found.

The research included over 7,000 children aged 3, 5 and 9 who were tracked as part of the ‘Growing Up In Ireland‘ study.

The results showed that 10 percent of children were at high risk for mental health issues.

The research covered all kinds of issues:

  • internalising symptoms: social withdrawal and anxiety.
  • externalising symptoms: aggression, hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Mr Ioannis Katsantonis, the study’s first author, said:

“The fact that one in 10 children were in the high-risk category for mental health problems is a concern and we ought to be aware of the part parenting may play in that.

We are not for a moment suggesting that parents should not set firm boundaries for their children’s behavior, but it is difficult to justify frequent harsh discipline, given the implications for mental health.”

The study assessed parents on how much they used these three parenting styles:

  • Warm parenting: supportive of the child’s needs.
  • Consistent: setting clear boundaries and expectations.
  • Hostile: psychologically and/or physically malevolent.

Hostile parenting, the researchers founds, increased the risk of children experiencing mental health issues at age 9 by 150 percent.

However, parenting style was not the only factor: those from less wealthy homes, single-parent families and female children were at a higher risk of mental health problems.

Dr Jennifer Symonds, study co-author, said:

“Our findings underline the importance of doing everything possible to ensure that parents are supported to give their children a warm and positive upbringing, especially if wider circumstances put those children at risk of poor mental health outcomes.

Avoiding a hostile emotional climate at home won’t necessarily prevent poor mental health outcomes from occurring, but it will probably help.”

Children at risk should be given appropriate support, said Mr Katsantonis:

“Appropriate support could be something as simple as giving new parents clear, up-to-date information about how best to manage young children’s behavior in different situations.

There is clearly a danger that parenting style can exacerbate mental health risks.

This is something we can easily take steps to address.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences (Katsantonis & Symonds, 2023).

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This Healthy Parenting Technique Is Unexpected — Most Do The Opposite

Children often know more than their parents imagine.

Children often know more than their parents imagine.

It is better for parents to allow their children to see negative emotions like anger and frustration.

Many parents, though, try to hide all conflicts from their children.

However, children often know when their parents are trying to hide conflict and it confuses them.

They know something is wrong, but see no change in their parent’s behaviour, which is confusing.

Better, say psychologists, to allow children to see healthy conflict and how it is resolved.

That way they learn to resolve their own conflicts and emotions.

Dr Sara Waters, study co-author, said:

“We wanted to look at how we suppress emotions and how that changes the way parents and kids interact.

Kids pick up on suppression, but it’s something a lot of parents think is a good thing to do.”

The study involved 109 mothers and fathers who were videoed playing with Lego with their children after a stressful event.

Half were told to act normally while playing with their children, the other half were told to suppress their emotions.

Dr Waters explained the results:

“We looked at the responsiveness, warmth, quality of the interactions, how the parent provided guidance for the child.

The act of trying to suppress their stress made parents less positive partners during the Lego task.

They offered less guidance, but it wasn’t just the parents who responded.

Those kids were less responsive and positive to their parents.

It’s almost like the parents were transmitting those emotions.”

Kids easily pick up on their parents’ emotions, even when they try to suppress them, said Dr Waters:

“Kids are good at picking up subtle cues from emotions.

If they feel something negative has happened, and the parents are acting normal and not addressing it, that’s confusing for them.

Those are two conflicting messages being sent.”

Let children see the negative emotions, said Dr Waters:

“That helps kids learn to regulate their own emotions and solve problems.

They see that problems can get resolved.

It’s best to let the kids know you feel angry, and tell them what you’re going to do about it to make the situation better.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Emotion (Karnilowicz et al., 2018).

This Early Parental Behaviour Predicts A Child’s Academic and Social Skills 3 Decades Later (M)

This parental behaviour in the first three years is vital to a child’s future success.

This parental behaviour in the first three years is vital to a child's future success.

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This Parental Behaviour Is Linked To More Intelligent Children

Along with intelligence, certain parenting strategies are linked to less aggression, disobedience and restlessness.

Along with intelligence, certain parenting strategies are linked to less aggression, disobedience and restlessness.

Children whose parents are ‘chatterboxes’ tend to have higher IQs.

Children hearing more speech from their caregivers had better reasoning and numeracy skills, the observational study found.

Some children in the study heard twice as many words as others.

Perhaps less surprisingly, children who heard higher quality speech from their parents, using a more diverse vocabulary, knew more words themselves.

For the study, tiny audio recorders were fitted to 107 children aged between 2 and 4.

They were recorded for 16 hours a day for three days at home.

Ms Katrina d’Apice, the study’s first author, explained the results:

“Using the audio recorders allowed us to study real-life interactions between young children and their families in an unobtrusive way within the home environment rather than a lab setting.

We found that the quantity of adult spoken words that children hear is positively associated with their cognitive ability.

However, further research is needed to explore the reasons behind this link — it could be that greater exposure to language provides more learning opportunities for children, but it could also be the case that more intelligent children evoke more words from adults in their environment.”

While parental talk was linked to children’s cognitive abilities, their parenting strategy was linked to their behaviour.

Specifically, positive parenting was linked to less aggression, disobedience and restlessness.

Positive parenting involves responding to children in positive ways and encouraging them to explore the world.

Professor Sophie von Stumm, study co-author, said:

“This study is the largest naturalistic observation of early life home environments to date.

We found that the quantity of adult spoken words that children were exposed to varied greatly within families.

Some kids heard twice as many words on one day as they did on the next.

The study highlights the importance of treating early life experiences as dynamic and changeable rather than static entities — approaching research in this way will help us to understand the interplay between environmental experiences and children’s differences in development.”

The study was published in the journal Developmental Psychology (d’Apice et al., 2019).

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From putting on a brave face and being protective to pushing them to achieve, here are ten common parental behaviours that can ultimately backfire.

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This Parenting Technique Leads To Maladjusted Children

How parents raise maladjusted children.

How parents raise maladjusted children.

‘Helicopter parents’ who hover over their child, trying to do everything for them, raise maladjusted children.Children need space to learn and grow themselves without over-controlling parents trying to take over at the slightest hitch.The psychologists found that children who experience helicopter parenting find it harder to manage their own emotions and behaviour.Dr Nicole B. Perry, the study’s first author, said:
“Our research showed that children with helicopter parents may be less able to deal with the challenging demands of growing up, especially with navigating the complex school environment.Children who cannot regulate their emotions and behavior effectively are more likely to act out in the classroom, to have a harder time making friends and to struggle in school.”
The study followed 422 children over 8 years, assessing them at ages 2, 5 and 10.Dr Perry explained what they saw with some parents:
“Helicopter parenting behavior we saw included parents constantly guiding their child by telling him or her what to play with, how to play with a toy, how to clean up after playtime and being too strict or demanding.The kids reacted in a variety of ways.Some became defiant, others were apathetic and some showed frustration.”
The results showed that helicopter parenting at age 2 was linked to an inability to control emotions and behaviour later on.Dr Perry said:
“Children who developed the ability to effectively calm themselves during distressing situations and to conduct themselves appropriately had an easier time adjusting to the increasingly difficult demands of preadolescent school environments.Our findings underscore the importance of educating often well-intentioned parents about supporting children’s autonomy with handling emotional challenges.”
Parents can help their children by explaining how to understand their thoughts and feelings.Setting a good example is also important, said Dr Perry:
“Parents can also set good examples for their children by using positive coping strategies to manage their own emotions and behavior when upset.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Developmental Psychology (Perry et al., 2018).

4 Ways Parents Can Boost Children’s IQ

The right methods can help boost children’s IQ.

The right methods can help boost children’s IQ.

Parents can boost their children’s IQ, psychological research finds, as long as they use tried and tested methods.

After examining almost every available intervention, Dr John Protzko and colleagues found that just four had a real chance of working:

  1. Omega-3 supplementation,
  2. reading to children interactively,
  3. enrolling children in early educational interventions,
  4. and sending children to a quality preschool.

The results come from a meta-analysis, a type of study that collects together the results of many other studies.

In doing so, the researchers created a “Database of Raising Intelligence”.

Dr John Protzko, the study’s first author, explained:

“Our aim in creating this database is to learn what works and what doesn’t work to raise people’s intelligence.

For too long, findings have been disconnected and scattered throughout a wide variety of journals.

The broad consensus about what works is founded on only two or three very high-profile studies.”

Supplementation with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, like those in foods rich in omega-3, was linked to an IQ boost of 3.5 points, on average.

Preschools were linked to an increase of 7 IQ points.

They may boost IQ by providing the child with a cognitively stimulating environment.

In addition, it could be the extra exposure to language that provides the boost.

Dr Protzko said:

“Our current findings strengthen earlier conclusions that complex environments build intelligence, but do cast doubt on others, including evidence that earlier interventions are always most effective.

Overall, identifying the link between essential fatty acids and intelligence gives rise to tantalizing new questions for future research and we look forward to exploring this finding.”

Teaching parents how to read interactively with their children was linked to a 6 point IQ increase.

This is likely from the boost to language development.

The study was published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science (Protzko et al., 2013).

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