Effectively Raised Women Make Great Mothers

An international consortium of researchers recently reported that girls raised in a positive, nurturing environment throughout their childhood are much more likely to raise their children in the same way.

The lead researcher, Dr. Jay Belsky, Director of the Institute for the Study of Children Families and Social Issues at Berkbeck University of London, said that the findings show that “it is not just problematic parenting, known to undermine a child’s well being, that can be handed down across generations, but also the kind of parenting known to foster healthy child development.”

The research, which was reported in the March/April 2005 issue of the Journal of Child Development, showed that women-but not men-who were raised within:

·         Low-authoritarian households during the preschool years,

·         With a cohesive, positive family environment and little conflict during the middle childhood years, and

·         Who established a trusting, openly communicative and close relationship with their parents during the teenage years—

These women were more likely to engage in a warm, sensitive, stimulating parenting style themselves when raising the next generation.

Such parenting during the early years is known to foster emotional well being and improve language/thinking skills, as well as academic achievement as the child grows up.

One of the mysteries still to be resolved, said Dr. Belsky, is why childrearing history only predicted how mothers parented, but not fathers.  This could result from the fact that the original study included very little information on fathering, said Dr. Belsky.

What do you think of the results of this study?

                                                      

Comments

[hongling]

I strongly believe that woman who are well educated in youth will have a better chance of raising learned and knowledgable children. Those unfortunate mothers who did not learn as much in their childhood would have less of a chance of raising good children. For example, Joyce Svitak graduated from two colleges with full bachelor degrees and now hires various teachers to tutor her two children. Parents who also wish for their children to participate in the learning program send their children to Joyce's Redmond house, where learning grows with stunning rapidness.

[renee]

I would love to see another angle of this study that involved women who were exposed to nuturing techniques before and during their parenting years. I was raised in a very loving home, but due to their poor parenting they received as children, their style was more authoritarian and emotionally charged. So my perspective on parenting was resolute and guided by the threat of a belt or shaming. Before I had children I was given an opportunity to work for an agency that teaches parents positive behavior management skills. This program works primarily with parents of preschool aged children who are having difficulty with their child's behavior. I worked there intensively for 3 years before our first child was born. It became quite apparent that if I had not learned these positive parenting techniques the emotional well being of my children would be at stake. I am now the parent of 2 teenaged boys and I still work with this awesome program. It continues to remind me how important it is to communicate and show love--even when it's hard to.I will be sharing this study with my collegues. We'd love to see more on the responsibility of fathers.

[Wendy]

This was interesting information. I think there should be more studies on fathers. If boys were nurtured in the same way as the study mentions, would there be less bullies, less violence, would the boys grow up to be fathers that are more actively involved in raising their children?