Difficult parenting can fuel children's antisocial behavior

A new study involving identical twins revealed that the child who exhibited harsher behavior and lesser parental warmth was more aggressive and exhibited harsher and unemotional traits, such as a lack of children. 39, empathy and a moral compass.

In a study of 227 pairs of identical twins, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University analyzed the slight parental differences that each twin experienced to determine whether these differences predicted the probability of antisocial behavior. They found that the twin who had undergone stricter or harsher treatment and less emotional warmth from parents was more likely to show aggressive traits and hard, emotionless traits (UC). .

"Some early work on hard and impassive traits focused on their biological bases, such as genetics and the brain, arguing that these traits develop regardless of what is happening in the child's environment. but that parenting does not matter, "said Dr. Rebecca Waller, assistant professor in the psychology department at Penn, who led the study.

"We thought we could change something in the environment that could prevent a child from engaging in the path of more serious antisocial behavior."

This work is the latest in a series of studies by Waller and his colleagues using observation to evaluate various aspects of parenting. The initial research, which considered an organic parent and child, confirmed that parental warmth plays an important role in the materialization of UC traits.

A subsequent adoption study of non-biologically related parents and children yielded consistent results.

"We can not blame it on genetics because these kids do not share the genes with their parents," Waller said. "But he still did not exclude the possibility that the child's genetic characteristics elicited certain reactions from the adoptive parent."

In other words, a warm and positive parent may have difficulty maintaining these behaviors if the child never returns the favor, she explained.

Knowing this, Dr. Luke Hyde, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, joins Dr. S. Alexandra Burt, co-director of the US registry at Michigan State University. Supporting participants aged 6 to 11 from a large ongoing twin study led by Burt, the team turned to identical twins.

For 454 children – 227 pairs of identical twins – parents completed a questionnaire of 50 questions about the family environment. They also established their hardness and heat levels by noting 24 statements such as "I often lose my temper with my child" and "My child knows I like him".

The researchers evaluated the children's behavior by asking the mother to report 35 characters related to the aggressiveness and traits of the CU.

"The study convincingly shows that parenting – not just genes – contributes to the development of insensitive and insensitive risk traits," said Hyde, an associate professor in the Michigan Department of Psychology. "Because identical twins have the same DNA, we can be more certain that the differences in parenting received by twins affect the development of these traits."

According to Waller, a potential next step is to turn these results into interventions for families trying to prevent a child from developing these traits or to improve troubling behaviors that have already begun.

"From the perspective of the real world, it is complicated to create interventions that work in practice and are truly capable of changing behaviors in different types of families," she said. "But these results show that small differences in the way parents look after their children are important.

"We are now focusing on adapting already successful parenting programs to include specific interventions that focus on hard, unyielding traits."

Although an intervention with parents may succeed, the researchers point out that the work does not blame parents for the CA or the aggressive behavior of their child.

"Our earlier work on adopted children also showed that genes really matter and that there was therefore a back and forth," Hyde said. "Some children may be more difficult to raise. The most important message is that treatments that work with parents can probably help, even for the most at-risk kids. "

The researchers recognize some limitations to the study. For example, this weighs heavily on two-parent families, which means that conclusions may not be as generalizable as for single-parent families. It also assesses parenting measures and matchmaking behaviors based solely on parenting relationships.

Despite these drawbacks, the researchers said their work broadened the understanding of how different forms of antisocial behavior, such as aggression and hard, impassive traits, are emerging.

"This provides strong evidence that parenting is also important in developing hard, emotionless traits," said Hyde. "The good news is that we know that the treatments can help parents who may need extra support for children dealing with these dangerous behaviors."

The study was published in Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry of the Child and the Teenager.

Source: University of Pennsylvania

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