Young children who frequently experience harsh discipline from their parents are much more likely to have long-lasting mental health problems, according to new research. Researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Dublin found that children exposed to ‘hostile’ parents at age three were 1.5 times more likely than their peers to have mental health symptoms that met the criteria for “high risk” at the age of nine than their counterparts.
The study included over 7,500 Irish children. Hostile parenting sometimes results in severe punishments and can be psychological or physical. For example, this could involve yelling at children all the time, regular physical discipline, isolating children when they disobey, lowering their self-esteem, or irrationally punishing children depending on the mood of the parents. .
At ages three, five and nine, the researchers recorded the children’s mental health symptoms. They looked at signs of mental illness that are internalized (such as anxiety and social disengagement) as well as externalized (such as impulsive and violent behaviors and hyperactivity). 10% of children have been shown to be at high risk for poor mental health. Children in this group were much more likely to have experienced aggressive parenting practices.
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Importantly, the study clearly indicates that parenting style does not completely determine mental health outcomes. Children’s mental health is shaped by multiple risk factors, including gender, physical health, and socioeconomic status. The researchers argue, however, that mental health professionals, teachers and other practitioners should be alert to the potential influence of parenting on a child who shows signs of poor mental health. They add that additional support for parents of children already considered at risk could help prevent the onset of these problems.
The study was undertaken by Ioannis Katsantonis, PhD researcher at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Education, and Jennifer Symonds, associate professor at the UCD School of Education. It is reported in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.
“The fact that one in 10 children fall into the high-risk category for mental health issues is concerning and we need to be aware of the role parents can play in this,” Katsantonis said.
“We’re not suggesting for a moment that parents shouldn’t set firm limits on their children’s behavior, but harsh and frequent discipline is hard to justify, given the implications for mental health.”
Symonds said: “Our findings underscore the importance of doing everything possible to ensure that parents are supported to give their children a warm and positive upbringing, particularly if wider circumstances put these children at risk of poor mental health outcomes. Avoiding a hostile emotional climate at home will not necessarily prevent the onset of mental health problems, but it will likely help.”
Although parenthood is widely recognized as a factor influencing children’s mental health, most studies have not investigated how it affects their mental health over time, or how it relates to both internalizing symptoms and exteriorization.
The researchers used data from 7,507 participants in the ‘Growing up in Ireland’ longitudinal study of children and young people. Mental health data was captured using a standard assessment tool called the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Each child received a composite score out of 10 for their externalizing and internalizing symptoms at ages three, five and nine.
A second standard assessment was used to measure the parenting style experienced by children at age three. Parents were profiled according to their degree of inclination toward each of three styles: warm parenting (supportive and responsive to their child’s needs); consistent (establishing clear expectations and rules); and hostile.
The researchers found that, based on the trajectories along which their mental health symptoms developed between the ages of three and nine, the children fell into three broad categories. Most (83.5%) were low risk, with low internalizing and externalizing symptom scores at age three, which then fell or remained stable. A few (6.43%) were at mild risk, with high initial scores that decreased over time, but remained higher than the first group. The remaining 10.07% were at high risk, with high initial scores that increased at age nine.
Hostile parents increased a child’s odds of being in the high-risk category by 1.5 times and the mild-risk category by 1.6 times, by age nine. Consistent parenting was found to have a limited protective role, but only with respect to children in the ‘low risk’ category. To the researchers’ surprise, however, warm parenting did not increase the likelihood of children being in the low-risk group, possibly due to the influence of other factors on mental health outcomes.
Previous research has highlighted the importance of these other factors, many of which have also been confirmed by the new study. Girls, for example, were more likely to fall into the high-risk category than boys; children of lone parents were 1.4 times more likely to be at high risk, and those from wealthier backgrounds were less likely to have concerning mental health symptoms in middle childhood.
Katsantonis said the findings highlighted the importance of early intervention and support for children at risk of mental health problems, and that this should involve tailored support, advice and training for new ones. parents.
“Appropriate support could be something as simple as giving new parents clear, up-to-date information on how best to handle young children’s behavior in different situations,” he said. “There is clearly a danger that parenting style can exacerbate mental health risks. This is something we can easily take steps to address.”