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Harsh parenting practices, not genetics, are linked to higher levels of behavior problems in children, according to a new study in the March 2021 issue of Psychological Science, which studied pairs of twins whose parents disciplined them harshly. different.
Among identical twins whose genes matched perfectly but whose parents punished each twin differently, the children who were hit or yelled at the most were more likely to display antisocial behavior.
“Studies on the effects of physical punishment have led the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend against physical punishment and numerous countries to ban physical punishment, including spanking,” said Elizabeth Gershoff, professor of human development and family sciences. at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the study. “This is the latest research to show that harsh punishment is directly related to more, not less, behavior problems in children.”
Dozens of research studies have confirmed that parental use of harsh punishment, especially physical punishment such as spanking, is linked to increases in negative outcomes for their children, particularly higher levels of behavior problems . The research team set out to examine a common counterargument that genetics must play a role. According to this reasoning, parents who have a tendency toward harsh and aggressive behavior would have children with more problem behavior because they pass on genes related to aggression and misbehavior.
Because it would be unethical to bring families with similar genes and randomly assign some to spank or be verbally harsh with their children, researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and UT Austin studied twins. The research involved 1,030 pairs of twins, including 426 pairs of genetically identical twins, many of whom had parents who treated each twin differently. The researchers found that in families where parents severely punished one twin but not the other, there was a predictable increase in delinquency and physical aggression for the child who was hit or yelled at more than his twin.
“This design is especially useful in the case of monozygotic (often called identical) twins since they share 100% of their genes. Therefore, any differences between them must have an environmental origin,” said lead author Alexandra Burt, a psychology professor at Michigan State University. “We found no evidence to support a genetic explanation. Differences in harsh parenting that each twin received predicted twin differences in antisocial behavior, even when they shared 100% of their genes.”
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Identical twins are not perfect clones, research shows. More information: S. Alexandra Burt et al. Twin Differences in Harsh Parenting Predict Youth Antisocial Behavior, Psychological Science (2021). DOI: 10.1177/0956797620968532 Magazine information: Psychological Science
Provided by the University of Texas at Austin Date: Twin Study Shows Why Physical Punishment Leads to Child Behavior Problems (2021, Mar 25) Retrieved Aug 30, 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-twin-physical-child -behavior-problems.html This document is copyrighted. Other than any fair dealing for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.