[ad_1]
Less parental warmth and more hardness at home affect how children become aggressive, and the lack of empathy and moral compass, a set of features known as ruthless traits, according to the findings of the University of Pennsylvania University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The work was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry of the Child and Adolescent.
In a study conducted by Penn's psychologist Rebecca Waller, the research team analyzed 227 pairs of identical twins to determine the slight parental differences that each twin experienced to determine whether these differences predicted the likelihood of new antisocial behaviors. They learned that the twin who had undergone a harsher or harsher treatment and less emotional heat from the parents was more likely to show aggression and traits of UC.
"Some of the early work on insensitive and non-emotional traits focused on their biological bases, such as genetics and the brain, arguing that these traits develop regardless of what happens in the environment of the body. child, but that parenting does not matter, "Waller says. , assistant professor of psychology. "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 that uses 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 parents and unbound children biologically yielded consistent results. "We can not blame that for genetics because these kids do not share the genes with their parents," says Waller. "But that still did not rule out the possibility that something about the child's genetic characteristics elicits some reaction from the adoptive parent." In other words, a warm and positive parent may have trouble maintaining these behaviors if the child never reciprocates.
Knowing this, Luke Hyde, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, decided to team up with S. Alexandra Burt, co-director of the double register 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), the 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 on 35 traits. related to the aggression and features 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 actionable interventions for families trying to prevent a child from developing such traits, or to improve troubling behaviors that have already begun.
"From a real-world perspective, it's complicated to create interventions that work in a practical way and that are actually able to change behaviors in different types of families," says Waller. "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 hardline interventions.
While an intervention with parents may succeed, Hyde and his colleagues point out that the job 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 a back and forth," he says. "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. "
Researchers recognize some limitations of the study, for example the fact that it is strongly oriented towards two-parent families, which means that the conclusions may not be as generalizable as for single-parent families. It also assesses parenting measures and matchmaking behaviors based solely on parenting relationships.
Yet, despite these drawbacks, the researchers explain that this work helps to better understand how different forms of antisocial behavior, such as aggression and hard, emotionless traits, appear. "This clearly shows that parenting also plays an important role in the development of hard, senseless traits," says 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."
This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant R01-MH081813) and by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Children's Health and Human Development (grant R01-HD066040).
Rebecca Waller is an assistant professor in the department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences the University of Pennsylvania.
Luke Hyde is an associate professor in the department of Psychology in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts the University of Michigan.
S. Alexandra Burt is a teacher of Psychology and co-director of Michigan State University Double Registry at University of Michigan.
Source link
