Low IQ Children Are Raised By Mothers Exposed To This (M)
Low IQ is linked to this parental experience.
Category: Child Psychology
The Healthiest Remedy For Childhood Trauma (M)
Three-quarters of people report at least one adverse childhood event.
Liars Are Raised By Parents Who Do This (M)
This parenting technique makes children more manipulative and selfish.
This parenting technique makes children more manipulative and selfish.
People who were lied to by their parents go on to become liars themselves, new research finds.
Common lies parents tell like, “If you don’t behave, I’ll call the police,” might seem harmless, but they have long-term consequences.
People lied to more as children grow up to be more manipulative and selfish.
Dr Setoh Peipei, the study’s first author, said:
“Parenting by lying can seem to save time especially when the real reasons behind why parents want children to do something is complicated to explain.
When parents tell children that ‘honesty is the best policy’, but display dishonesty by lying, such behaviour can send conflicting messages to their children.
Parents’ dishonesty may eventually erode trust and promote dishonesty in children.”
The study included 379 young adults, who were asked how much they were lied to as children by their parents.
Typical lies included:
- “If you don’t come with me now, I will leave you here by yourself.”
- “I did not bring money with me today, we can come back another day.”
The results showed that people lied to as children were more likely to lie back to their parents.
People who were lied to more also experienced more guilt and shame as well as being more selfish and manipulative.
Dr Peipei said:
“Our research suggests that parenting by lying is a practice that has negative consequences for children when they grow up.
Parents should be aware of these potential downstream implications and consider alternatives to lying, such as acknowledging children’s feelings, giving information so children know what to expect, offering choices and problem-solving together, to elicit good behaviour from children.”
Those lied to more as children were at greater risk of aggression and rule-breaking.
This may result from undermining children’s well-being, Dr Peipei said:
“Authority assertion over children is a form of psychological intrusiveness, which may undermine children’s sense of autonomy and convey rejection, ultimately undermining children’s emotional well-being.”
The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (Setoh et al., 2019).
What Harsh Parenting Does To The Brain (M)
Harsh parents tend to spank, shake and often get angry at children.
Music Students Do Better In Maths And Science (M)
Music students end up one academic year ahead of their non-musical peers.
The Positive Trait Linked To Higher Income (M)
This surprising personality trait is linked to greater earnings decades later.
The Most Unhealthy Parenting Style (M)
The parenting style is linked to poor health and greater risk of disease later on.
An Early Indicator Of Poor Mental Health
A common childhood complaint that hints at depression and anxiety later on.
A common childhood complaint that hints at depression and anxiety later on.
Stomach aches, nausea and other gut problems in childhood could indicate mental health problems later on, new research suggests.
The study of children who were separated from their biological parents at a young age found they experienced more gut problems.
Brain scans revealed that gut problems were also linked to abnormal activity in parts of the brain that process emotions.
The finding raises the prospect that probiotics may help treat some people.
The gut-brain link is underlined by the fact that over half of adults with irritable bowel syndrome have a history of trauma or abuse.
This is twice the rate of those without childhood traumas.
Professor Nim Tottenham, study co-author, said:
“One common reason children show up at doctors’ offices is intestinal complaints.
Our findings indicate that gastrointestinal symptoms in young children could be a red flag to primary care physicians for future emotional health problems.”
The study included 115 adopted children and 229 children raised by their biological parents.
The results showed that children with disrupted childhoods were more likely to suffer from constipation, stomach aches, nausea and vomiting.
Dr Bridget Callaghan, the study’s first author, said:
“Our study is among the first to link disruption of a child’s gastrointestinal microbiome triggered by early-life adversity with brain activity in regions associated with emotional health.”
The researchers took a closer look at 8 children from each group, carrying out brain scans and gene sequencing.
These demonstrated that those with disrupted childhoods had less diversity of bacteria in their gut.
Brain scans showed that patterns of activity were also linked to the types of bacteria in their gut.
Professor Tottenham explained:
“It is too early to say anything conclusive, but our study indicates that adversity-associated changes in the gut microbiome are related to brain function, including differences in the regions of the brain associated with emotional processing.”
The research suggests probiotics may help some people, said Dr Callaghan:
“Animal studies tell us that dietary interventions and probiotics can manipulate the gut microbiome and ameliorate the effects of adversity on the central nervous system, especially during the first years of life when the developing brain and microbiome are more plastic.
It is possible that this type of research will help us to know if and how to best intervene in humans, and when.”
The study was published in the journal Development and Psychopathology (Callaghan et al., 2019).
The Personality Trait That Makes Children Smarter
The children ate better, slept better and were in stronger control of their emotions.
The children ate better, slept better and were in stronger control of their emotions.
Mothers who believe they have control over their lives raise smarter children, new research finds.
Psychologists call it an ‘internal locus of control’ and people with this trait do not blame outside forces, or fate.
Instead, they believe in choice and consequences.
Mothers who think like this have children who score better in tests of maths and science.
These mothers were also more likely to:
- feed their children brain-healthy diets,
- read stories to them,
- and show interest in their school work.
As a result of believing that what they do matters, children eat better, sleep better and are in stronger control of their emotions.
Professor Jean Golding, the study’s first author, said:
“It is widely known that the locus of control of a child is strongly associated with their academic achievements but until now we didn’t know if mothers’ locus of control orientation during pregnancy had a role to play in early childhood.
Thanks to the longitudinal data from Children of the 90s study we can now make these associations.”
The Children of the 90s study started with 14,541 pregnant women in England who have been followed since 1992.
The results showed that mothers who had an internal locus of control brought up smarter children.
Professor Stephen Nowicki, study co-author, said:
“Internal parents believe that they have behavioural choices in life.
…when they expect life outcomes to be linked to what they do their children eat better, sleep better and are better able to control their emotions.
Such children later in childhood are also more likely to have greater academic achievements, fewer school related personal and social difficulties and less likelihood of being obese.
Parents are not necessarily stuck with how their current locus of control, said Professor Nowicki:
“It is possible for a parent to change their outlook; we’ve demonstrated in the past that parents who become more internal (i.e. learn to see the connections between what they do and what happens to their children) improved their parenting skills which would have a positive effect on their children’s personal, social and academic lives.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology (Golding et al., 2019).
The Brains Of Psychopathic Children Are Smaller (M)
Cold and unemotional children tend to have smaller brains along with differences in how areas of their brain are connected.
