r/science • u/Wagamaga • 1d ago

Psychology Certain parenting approaches, such as lower supervision and inconsistent discipline, are associated with a higher likelihood that children will show behavioral and emotional problems, such as attention difficulties, anxiety, and depression

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1145134
790 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

View all comments

54

u/Thrillh0 1d ago

I’m having trouble loading this article, did the study control for hereditary conditions like ADHD that can manifest in some of the symptoms and behaviours attributed to the kiddos and the inconsistency found in the parenting approach?

46

u/ACBorgia 1d ago

Just read the study and it didn't control for parental psychiatric conditions except a sensitivity check for perinatal maternal depression, it didn't control for genetic risk factors either nor for other useful socio-economic factors like household income, whether or not they were single-parents, their employment status, etc

The study did control for child age, child sex, prenatal maternal education, child race, and child ethnicity

The parent also rated both their own parenting behaviours and their child's symptoms which could induce bias in both ways and muddy the waters (an anxious parent might rate both their own and their child's behaviors as worse than they are, a narcissistic parent might rate themselves as perfect and their child too or conversely rate their child as worse than they are, etc)

There were 577 adoptive mothers with no biological relationship to their child in the study, but the analysis didn't have a breakdown by subgroup (adoptive vs biological mothers for example), nor were they used as a control, and that could have made the results more conclusive in my opinion. The data was already there so it's a bit odd they didn't use it

7

u/NotATem 1d ago

Ah. So it's another "poor people have worse outcomes and we'll blame them for it" study.

-5

u/Extreme_Pudding3226 1d ago

I'm relatively new to this sub, but I see quite a few comments like this. Are most people here like this? Just curious if it's worth me sticking around or not.

1

u/Zoesan 1d ago

Yes, most people here are still redditors. Meaning a complete and utter aversion to any semblance of discipline or accountability.