Every parent wants to raise their children as responsible, good, thoughtful, and quality adults.
Although there is no “right” way to raise kids, researchers have found a parenting secret that could help parents in raising a quality adult for society.
According to Prevention, a study published in the journal American Psychologist suggested that showing affection, like giving them lots of hugs and encouraging child regular, could lead to major positive changes in the personality of the child.
How can affection shape your child's future?
Researchers analysed data of 2,232 British identical twins from birth through age 18 gathered from home visits and recordings of the moms about their child and conducted personality tests at the age of 18 to see their “Big Five” personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.
The research found that the twins whose mothers were warm and loving towards them, especially at ages five and 10, became open, conscientious, and agreeable as young adults.
The researchers concluded, “Our findings suggest that interventions to increase positive parenting in childhood have the potential to make a positive population-wide impact through small but sustained effects on personality traits.”
Lead author of the study, Jasmin Wertz, explained, “By studying twins who share all of their genes and grow up in the same home, we were able to study the effects of parenting separately from the effects of genes to see if parenting has an effect on young people’s personalities.”
Researchers emphasise that affection of the parents teaches kids to be more understanding and caring towards others and helps them to manage their emotions and behaviours, making them more persistent and conscientious.
