A new study has been done that found parenting style may have an impact on a child’s future political views. In terms of motherhood and parenting, there seem to be a million ways to do it. Not only that, but mothers will often take different aspects of different parenting styles and adapt them until they have one that works for them and their children. Every family and situation is different, so there is never going to be one parenting style that is “the best”, it is going to depend on each family. However, we can see how these parenting styles affect our children as they grow and develop.
According to study findings, a new study has been done that found that parenting style can influence a child’s future political views. This study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychologyand it can be read in full here.
The research team of Carnegie Mellon University looked at two main philosophies for raising children: helicopter parent and free-running parent. These two parenting styles are vastly different, and it seems that they can influence whether a child becomes a conservative or a liberal in the future.
Not only that, but the study also found that the researchers could predict the child’s future views on topics such as education, care for the elderly, and medicine. They found that helicopter parenting led children to become conservative as they got older. Helicopter parenting is known as a “disciplinary” style of parenting, where there is a lot of focus on structure, rules and authority.
Free parenting, to be a more nurturing parent, led to children becoming liberal. These results shocked researchers, as they did not foresee that parenting styles would have such an impact on a child’s future political views.
Previous studies have already shown that helicopter parenting can be seen as detrimental to child development because they are often parents who are “overprotective”. However, this style of parenting is also becoming more popular as time goes on. This has led researchers to believe that not only can there be more conservatives in the future, but there can also be an increase in mental health issues and lower self-efficacy as this generation grows.
To complete this study, researchers conducted three separate mini-studies, where they were able to confirm their theory. While parenting style is still something that will appeal to every family, it is always important to have all the information.
Sources: Study Findings, APA
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