The fact that parents attribute and justify their children’s emotions and actions to the nature of the child makes them more likely to present behavioral problems, according to the study carried out by researchers Arissa Riemens, Christel M. Portengen and Joyce J. Endendijk, from the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. The article was published this year in the scientific journal “Cognition and Emotion”. This explains that parents have an important role in regulating children’s emotions.
The ability to manage and control feelings effectively is what is known as emotion regulation, an ability influenced by the forms of socialization carried out by children. And in whose configuration parents intervene because of the attributions they make between children’s behavior and their sensitivity.
“He’s a sensitive child” or “he must simply be having a bad day” are some of the phrases that parents often use when they try to justify their children’s attitude, explains researcher Joyce J. Endendijk. The specialist explains that blaming the child when she behaves badly implies a punishment in itself that tends to be considered as having a negative influence on the minor. However, if the opposite is done, that is, freeing him of guilt and justifying him, there will also be consequences for that child. Specifically, the development of internalized problems, such as anxiety, or others that are externalized, for example, aggressive attitudes.
After studying a sample of 241 participants made up of parents and children between 5 and 7 years old, the researchers were able to identify that, when parents tend to attribute their children’s emotional reactions to a predisposition due to their own sensitivity or nature, related to an increase in behavioral problems in children.
An example of this is that children whose parents attributed their children’s sadness to an inherent trait in them were more likely to reject these emotions. Which gave rise to an internalization problem. That is to say, this way of acting by parents can contribute to fueling children’s behavioral problems.
The results of this research show the importance of parents being aware of the causes they attribute to their children’s emotions. So what are the consequences that can arise from this practice, particularly the development of problems such as depression, anxiety or inclination towards aggressive or hostile behavior on the part of children.
