One parent has more influence than the other in some areas of child development.
A parasite called Toxoplasma gondii is thought to be responsible for the increase in risk of mental illness.
The more of these experiences students had suffered, the higher their levels of suicidal ideation, meaning they were thinking about ending their lives.
Perfectionism is a problematic personality trait that is on the rise.
The astounding power of the unconscious to store information we’ve consciously forgotten.
Both parents affect your personality, but rejection by one parent could be more critical for long-term development.
Optimism is a very attractive trait and is probably another reason that younger children are so charming in their happy naivety.
Childhood adversity experienced between ages 0-11 associated with a smaller cerebellum.
Self-esteem could be set at a surprisingly young age — so what influences it?
Self-esteem could be set at a surprisingly young age — so what influences it?
At the age of just five, children have developed a sense of self-esteem as strong as adults, a study finds.
Self-esteem tends to remain stable over the lifespan.
This suggests self-esteem could be set very early on.
Professor Andrew Meltzoff, one of the study’s authors, said:
“Some scientists consider preschoolers too young to have developed a positive or negative sense about themselves.
Our findings suggest that self-esteem, feeling good or bad about yourself, is fundamental.
It is a social mindset children bring to school with them, not something they develop in school.”
Until now it has been difficult to test the self-esteem of young children.
Dr Dario Cvencek, the study’s lead author, explained:
“Preschoolers can give verbal reports of what they’re good at as long as it is about a narrow, concrete skill, such as ‘I’m good at running’ or ‘I’m good with letters,’ but they have difficulties providing reliable verbal answers to questions about whether they are a good or bad person.”
Researchers used a newly developed test which examines implicit self-esteem.
In other words: it doesn’t directly ask children, rather it looks for associations.
For example, an adult test might look for links between the word “self” and the words “pleasant” or “unpleasant”.
The test was adapted for children that can’t read using the same principle.
Researchers examined the self-esteem of over 200 5-year-old children.
Dr Dario Cvencek, the study’s lead author, explained the results:
“Our work provides the earliest glimpse to date of how preschoolers sense their selves.
We found that as young as 5 years of age self-esteem is established strongly enough to be measured and we can measure it using sensitive techniques
Self-esteem appears to play a critical role in how children form various social identities.
Our findings underscore the importance of the first five years as a foundation for life.”
The question now, explained Professor Meltzoff, is what influences self-esteem at this young age:
“What aspects of parent-child interaction promote and nurture preschool self-esteem?
That’s the essential question.
We hope we can find out by studying even younger children.”
The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (Cvencek et al., 2015).
Typical callous-unemotional traits linked to psychopathy include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.
Typical callous-unemotional traits linked to psychopathy include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.
Parents who mistreat their offspring are more likely to raise children with psychopathic traits, research finds.
Both girls and boys who are subject to harsh and negative parenting are at a greater risk of developing callous-unemotional traits, which can develop into psychopathy.
Typical callous-unemotional traits include cheating, lying and a lack of remorse.
While the connection is well-known in males, this is one of the first studies to include females.
Ms Bridget Joyner, the study’s first author, said:
“Most studies that have looked at similar associations have not included females in their samples; it’s been strictly males.”
The study included over 4,000 young people whose callous-emotional traits were assessed along with any childhood maltreatment.
The results showed that while both sexes tended to develop callous-emotional traits when treated badly by parents, the link was weaker among females.
Callous-emotional traits are a precursor to psychopathy, which is linked to criminal behaviour.
Professor Kevin Beaver, study co-author, said:
“We know that males tend to respond to adverse experiences in more external ways, through behavior and other visible traits.
Females are more likely to internalize.
That can mean developing things like chronic stress, anxiety and depression.”
Callous-emotional traits are thought to be one way that young people cope with their harsh upbringing, said Ms Joyner:
“The development of these traits is thought to make them more withdrawn and help to protect them from being hurt again.”
If childhood maltreatment could be identified earlier, it may be possible to slow or stop the development of undesirable personality traits, said Ms Joyner:
“It’s important to be able to identify the risk factors that tell us how to look at and treat these individuals and to impede the development of these traits.
And when we can’t impede them then we need to treat them for it so the pattern isn’t repeated.”
The study was published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect (Joyner & Beaver, 2021).
Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.
