r/science • u/Wagamaga • 9h 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/114513461
u/Icy-Grab-5722 7h ago
Neglect is not good for kids. Some people would be better off not having kids.
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u/SemiHemiDemiDumb 4h ago edited 3h ago
In early adulthood while going to college where I was struggling, I had the thought "I wish my mother gave me a more structured upbringing". The C-PTSD plays a bigger role in why I struggle but if had the proper guidance as a child the PTSD wouldn't be as destructive. But also I think if I wasn't neglected emotionally and physically my PTSD would be much less.
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u/Icy-Grab-5722 3h ago
Yeah I hear you. Many years for me to begin to understand. I think the best description I have ever heard is something Mark the guy who has the YT channel that interviews all those LA skidrow homeless. He is the guy who interviews Rebecca. A simple statement. It was something like "there is a small window of time for a little kid either gets or does not get what they need to form good self esteem." That is such a basic and it is so true.
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u/Javier-AML 7h ago
Don't worry, most people aren't.
I just don't know if because can't afford or don't want to.
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u/ohnoitsme7890 6h ago
For me it's both. A world where I could afford a family is possibly the kind I'd like ro have a family in. This mess? No thanks
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u/Thrillh0 8h 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?
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u/ACBorgia 7h 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
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u/jamie_plays_his_bass 6h ago
A lot of scientific literature is exploring the opposite problem actually: how intergenerational emotional, behavioural, and attachment patterns lead to a cluster of symptoms, including attention and hyperactivity differences, which can mistakenly reinforce a uniquely “hereditary” profile of ADHD.
While we can accept there is good evidence this does exist, whether it is to the extent believed is up for question. As we better understand how emotional and attachment needs can influence attention, we can tease those things apart so that the distinction is clearer.
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u/ElaborateBicycle 2h ago
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that alters how neurotransmitters are produced, transported, and used in the brain. I’m not saying that this is purely caused by genetic factors, but it’s more than just environmental factors causing attention and hyperactivity differences that are functionally identical to ADHD.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2845158
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u/jamie_plays_his_bass 14m ago
I would encourage you to read more on the topic. I’m a clinical psychologist with doctoral training, my point is a bit more nuanced than how you framed it.
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u/TheMansAnArse 8h ago
Boomer and Gen X "I left the house in the morning, didn't return until evening and my parents has no idea where I was" types are going to be piiiiiiissed in this thread.
Who'd have thought spending lots of time with postitive adults is actually the best way to become an adult.
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u/JackBlackBowserSlaps 8h ago
Why would we be pissed? I can attest that this is correct, for all 3 issues listed in the headline.
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u/TheMansAnArse 7h ago
I more mean the ones yelling a millenials and younger for not being brought up like that - and instead spending more time with parents and at organised activities.
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u/Ulterior_Motif 7h ago
I don’t see people yelling about this, it usually seems to be brought up with a sense of nostalgia or just in contrast to how different things are now.
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u/TheMansAnArse 7h ago
Nah. There's a large section who seem to spend all their time pissing and moaning about millenials and younger being brought up differently and, in their view, wrongly. It normally manifests as "good old days" nostalgia angrily contrasted with hopelessly inaccurate views on how everyone younger than them was raised - usually believing kids don't go outside anymore, spend all their time on screens and other nonsense.
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u/Ulterior_Motif 6h ago
Interesting. After posting I wondered if I just don’t pay attention to those posts or if maybe they happen more often in spaces I don’t frequent.
Thanks for taking the time to clarify without irritation.
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u/TheMansAnArse 6h ago
No problem. They don't tend to appear on Reddit a lot (though r/lewronggeneration likes to post and laugh at them sometimes) but, on other feed-based social media, they're everywhere.
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u/Extreme_Pudding3226 7m ago
I think those criticisms are mostly right. Kids who have grown up over the last eight or so years have spent more time with their parents because their phone has replaced their normal independent social life, and parents have pushed organized activities at the expense of independence childhood play. There's tons of data to support this.
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u/TheMansAnArse 3m ago
Lumping everyone post-Gen X into “Tik Tok kids in the last eight years” is peak boomer.l thinking.
Is infinite scroll social media bad? Yes. Has that got anything to do with this study or my post? No. Will people try to straw man that anyway? Undoubtably.
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u/Extreme_Pudding3226 2m ago
Who did that?
And I'm assuming you don't have an actual response to the substance of what I said?
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u/Mattbl 4h ago
And on the flip side, helicopter parents will absolutely love this. I think kid's lives are already too structured today, and this will just feed more of that.
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u/TheMansAnArse 4h ago
I mean - I agree that people who understand that higher supervision and consistent discipline is best for kids will appreciate a study that demonstrates just that. Whereas people who pull "kids these days have too much structure in their lives" evidence-free, vibe-based takes out of their ass will perhaps push back when presented with evidence that they're wrong.
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u/Extreme_Pudding3226 5m ago
I agree that people who understand that higher supervision and consistent discipline is best for kids will appreciate a study that demonstrates just that.
Except this study doesn't demonstrate that. Which category do you think terrible parents who neglect their kids fall into? Is it any coincidence that that same category performed the worst?
This study isn't a defense of stuffing your kid's calendar with organized activities, limiting their independence and being okay with them sitting on their phone instead of hanging out with friends.
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u/Thud 7h ago
OK! Who is ready to take the “Be a positive adult all the time for 18 years straight” challenge?
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u/TheMansAnArse 7h ago
Not sure anyone can do anything consistently and perfectly for 18 years straight. But the study certainly suggests parents who at least try to lean that way end up with better behaved and more stable kids.
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u/ilovemyjob1962 2h ago
I don’t think any of us thinks that type of parenting was ideal. That’s why we all ended up helicopter parenting our own children.
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u/Extreme_Pudding3226 8m ago
I think you're overreading here. This study doesn't say anything against giving kids independence, and there was no group in the study that was in the high-positive and high-independence group.
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u/Wagamaga 8h ago
There's no one right way to raise a child, but different patterns of parenting are associated with how kids behave. A new study, published on September 30, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One, identified data-driven profiles of parenting practices and investigated how these relate to children's behavioral and emotional problems, generally grouped into internalizing behaviors (e.g., withdrawal, anxiety, depression) and externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, oppositional behavior, attention problems). The research team led by Dr. Xiaoye Xu, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at SUNY Cortland, US, found that several parenting factors, including low supervision and inconsistent discipline, were linked to a higher likelihood that children would exhibit these behaviors.
The researchers assessed these behaviors in more than 2,700 children between the ages of five and 18, using data assembled by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. Parents filled out surveys about their approach to parenting and their children's behavior.
Across these responses, the researchers identified three parenting profiles. The first was high positive parenting with better supervision — the term "positive parenting" describes warm, responsive caregiving, such as praising good behavior and engaging supportively with the child. The other two profiles were lower positive parenting with medium supervision, and medium positive parenting with poorer supervision. While these profiles do not represent the full spectrum of parenting approaches, this range let the researchers analyze the effects of positive parenting and level of supervision together.
Externalizing and internalizing behaviors were lowest among children raised with high positive parenting and better supervision. These behaviors were more common in the lower positive parenting with medium supervision profile, and highest among children in the medium positive parenting with poorer supervision profile.
Separately, the researchers also examined each parenting behavior individually rather than as part of a broader profile. This analysis showed that inconsistent discipline — how unpredictably parents enforced rules — was linked to both more internalizing and more externalizing problems, regardless of a family's broader parenting profile. Poor supervision, examined this way, was linked to more externalizing problems specifically, such as aggression and attention difficulties, but was not significantly linked to internalizing problems like anxiety and depression
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0356078
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u/HovercraftFullofBees 3h ago
I can't get past the fact they used the default GGplot color scheme for their graphs. Its so god damn distracting that they couldn't be bothered to pick their own colors or use literally any of the 10 billion color packages out there.
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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science 8h ago
Whereas it's reasonable to assume this is true on average, children are very different to one another and this needs to be taken into account when considering parenting styles. For some children lower supervision may be appropriate, even though on average it is not.
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