Parenting styles that included physical discipline and overcontrolling behavior, referred to as “hostile” parenting, were found to nearly double the risk for their children to develop mental health symptoms, according to a new study, ABC News reported.
The study was published in the medical journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, followed over 7,500 children in Ireland from 9 months old until they were up to 9 years old.
Children who were exposed to hostile parenting at age 3 were 1 1/2 times more likely to have high-risk mental health symptoms and 1.6 times more likely to have mild-risk mental health symptoms by age 9.
The study was titled: “Population heterogeneity in developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing mental health symptoms in childhood: differential effects of parenting styles” From the study:
Method: A community sample of 7,507 young children (ages 3, 5, and 9) from the Growing Up in Ireland cohort study was derived for further analyses. Parallel-process linear growth curve and latent growth mixture modeling were deployed.
Conclusions: In short, the findings suggest that a non-negligible proportion of the child population is susceptible to being at high risk for developing MHS (mental health symptoms). Moreover, a smaller proportion of children was improving but still displayed high symptoms of MHS (mild-risk). Furthermore, hostile parenting style is a substantial risk factor for increments in child MHS, whereas consistent parenting can serve as a protective factor in cases of mild-risk. Evidence-based parent training/management programmes may be needed to reduce the risk of developing MHS.
ABC News reported a quote from lead author of the study, Dr. Ioannis Katsantonis, a doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, who said: “Our findings suggest that hostile parenting should be avoided as much as possible in early childhood if we want to prevent children from developing increased mental health symptoms. We found that children in the high-risk class had parents with greater stress and greater likelihood of ongoing physical and mental health problems. These parents might need additional support and resources to address their own needs and enhance their parenting skills.”
In addition, ABC News also reported that Lead co-author Dr. Jennifer Symonds, an associate professor at the University College Dublin, reiterated the need for parental support to promote mental well-being in children. “Our findings underline the importance of doing everything possible to ensure that parents are supported,” Symonds said.
According to ABC News, the researchers unexpectedly did not find any change in risk for mental health symptoms with “warm” parenting styles, which previous research has suggested is protective.
“This underlines the fact that parenting is not the only factor shaping mental health. The impacts of low income, living in a lone-parent household, being a female child, facing health issues or having parents with health problems could all to some extent absorb any positive benefits of warm parenting in terms of mental health,” said Dr. Kastantonis.
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