Posts tagged stuff you know

'Helicopter' Parents Have Neurotic Kids

bolinpsychedin:

Overly protective parents might be leaving a lasting impact on their child’s personality, and not in a good way, a new study finds.

The results show having so-called “helicopter parents” was associated with being dependent, neurotic and less open, a slew of personality traits that are generally thought of as undesirable.

The study, which surveyed college freshman, is one of the first to try to define exactly what helicopter parenting is, and measure it. The term was originally coined by college admissions personnel when they started to notice a change in parents of prospective students — parents would call the admissions office and try to intervene in a process that had previously just been between the student and the college, said study researcher Neil Montgomery, a psychologist at Keene State College in N.H.

» via Live Science

I like that this is clarified by stating “the findings only show an association” not a correlation or a cause/effect relationship, as people often want to interpret research in a definitive or personalized way. Some people read articles like this and say, “well, I could have told you that” (which reminds me of when some people view modern art and say, my kid could have painted that).  But I feel, with especially with early research, it’s all about degrees, propensity and a setting of specific behaviors or stimuli that may lead to the likelihood of something particular to the set up. Not if A then B…. but more like if A or B happen with C and D, then 3 things may result and here are the how come, how much and why/why not questions we should ask the next go…and we’ll add something new to the mix.