Can being less affectionate make your child anti-social?
| Oct 15, 2018, 16:32 IST
A new study has found that being less affectionate and harsher and strict towards your child can make them more aggressive as they grow up. Less parental warmth and more harshness in the home environment of a child can cause them to become more aggressive with time. These children can grow up to lack empathy and a moral compass which are a set of traits known as callous-unemotional (CU) traits.
"The study convincingly shows that parenting -- and not just genes -- contribute to the development of risky callous-unemotional traits," said co-author Luke Hyde, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, US. "Because identical twins have the same DNA, we can be more sure that the differences in parenting the twins received affect the development of these traits," Hyde added.
They conducted the research on a number of identical set of twins. It was found that twins who underwent harsher treatment grew up to be more aggressive. However, the results were consistent even with adopted children. "We couldn't blame that on genetics because these children don't share genes with their parents," said lead author Rebecca Waller. "But it still didn't rule out the possibility that something about the child's genetic characteristics was evoking certain reactions from the adoptive parent," Waller added.
"The study convincingly shows that parenting -- and not just genes -- contribute to the development of risky callous-unemotional traits," said co-author Luke Hyde, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, US. "Because identical twins have the same DNA, we can be more sure that the differences in parenting the twins received affect the development of these traits," Hyde added.
They conducted the research on a number of identical set of twins. It was found that twins who underwent harsher treatment grew up to be more aggressive. However, the results were consistent even with adopted children. "We couldn't blame that on genetics because these children don't share genes with their parents," said lead author Rebecca Waller. "But it still didn't rule out the possibility that something about the child's genetic characteristics was evoking certain reactions from the adoptive parent," Waller added.