Too Much Control

Overly controlling parents cause their children life-long psychological damage, says study.

12:15 08 September 2015

A recent study has that overly controlling parents causes their children to suffer from lifelong psychological damage.

 

Researchers tracked a group of people born in the 1940s until the present day. They found that people who reported their parents had intruded on their privacy in childhood or encouraged dependence were likely to have low scores in surveys of happiness and general well being carried out in their teens, their 30s, their 40s, and even their 60s.

 

Dr Mai Stafford, of the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Lifelong Health and Ageing unit at UCL, said: “Parents also give us stable base from which to explore the world while warmth and responsiveness has been shown to promote social and emotional development.”

 

“By contrast, psychological control can limit a child’s independence and leave them less able to regulate their own behaviour.”

 

She added: “Parents are vitally important to the mental wellbeing of future generations,” she said. “Policies to reduce economic and other pressures on parents could help them to foster better relationships with their children.”