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Research indicates that a loving bond between parents and their children early in life significantly influences child development and fosters prosocial behavior.
Parent-Child Bond and Prosocial Behavior: A University of Cambridge Study
The University of Cambridge conducted a study using data from more than 10,000 people born between 2000 and 2002 to understand the long-term interplay between early relationships with parents, child development, and prosociality. This study is one of the first to examine how these characteristics interact over a lengthy period spanning childhood and adolescence.
Child Development and Prosocial Tendencies
The researchers found that individuals who experienced warm and loving relationships with their parents at age three not only tended to have fewer mental health problems during early childhood and adolescence but also displayed heightened prosocial tendencies. Child development, in this context, refers to the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional growth and progress children experience.
Prosociality, a key component of child development, denotes socially-desirable behaviors intended to benefit others, such as kindness, empati, helpfulness, generosity, and volunteering.
The Connection Between Parent-Child Relationships and Prosocial Behaviour in Children
Although the correlation between parent-child relationships and later prosociality within the realm of child development needs further research, this study points to a significant association. On average, it found that for every standard unit above ‘normal’ levels that a child’s closeness with their parents was higher at age three, their prosociality, a crucial aspect of child development, increased by 0.24 of a standard unit by adolescence.
The Impact of Early Parental Relationships on Children
Conversely, children whose early parental relationships were emotionally strained or abusive were less likely to develop prosocial habits as part of their child development over time. The researchers suggest this strengthens the case for developing targeted policies and support for young families within which establishing close parent-child relationships may not always be straightforward, affecting child development. For example, if parents are struggling with financial and work pressures and do not have much time, child development can be hindered.
Child Development and the Fluid Nature of Prosocial Behavior
The study also explored how far child development and prosocial behavior are fixed ‘traits’ in young people, and how far they fluctuate according to circumstances like changes at school or in personal relationships. It measured both children’s development and prosociality at ages five, seven, 11, 14, and 17 to develop a comprehensive picture of the dynamics shaping these characteristics and how they interact during child development.
The Role of Parent-Child Relationships
The research was undertaken by Ioannis Katsantonis and Dr. Ros McLellan, both from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Katsantonis, the lead author and a doctoral researcher specializing in psychology and education, said: “Our analysis showed that after a certain age, we tend to be mentally well or mentally unwell and have a reasonably fixed level of resilience. Child development, particularly prosociality, varies more and for longer, depending on our environment. A significant influence appears to be our early relationship with our parents. As children, we internalize those aspects of our relationships with parents characterized by emotion, care, and warmth, affecting children’s development. This, in turn, influences our future disposition to be kind and helpful towards others.”
Insights from a Large-Scale Study
The study used data from 10,700 participants in the Millennium Cohort Study, which has monitored the child development and growth of a large group of people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002. It includes survey-based information about child development, prosociality, ‘internalizing’ mental health symptoms (such as depression and anxiety), and ‘externalizing’ symptoms (such as aggression).
Child Development and Mental Health
Further survey data provided information about how far the participants’ relationships with their parents at age three were characterized by ‘maltreatment’ (physical and verbal abuse), emotional conflict, and ‘closeness’ (warmth, security, and care), all of which influence child development. Other potentially confounding factors, like ethnic background and socio-economic status, were also taken into account.
The Cambridge team then used a complex form of statistical analysis called latent state-trait-occasion modeling to understand how far the participants’ mental health symptoms and prosocial inclinations seemed to be expressing fixed personality ‘traits’ at each stage of their child’s development. This enabled them, for example, to determine how far a child who behaved anxiously when surveyed was responding to a particular experience or set of circumstances, and how far they were just a naturally anxious child.
The Link Between Mental Health and Prosociality
The study found some evidence of a link between mental health problems and prosociality during child development. Notably, children who displayed higher than average externalizing mental health symptoms at a younger age showed less prosociality than usual later in their life. For example, for each standard unit increase above normal that a child displayed externalizing mental health problems at age seven, their prosociality typically fell by 0.11 of a unit at age 11.
Child Development and the Role of Schools
There was no clear evidence that the reverse applied, however. While children with greater than average prosociality generally had better mental health at any single given point in time, this did not mean their mental health improved as they got older. On the basis of this finding, the study suggests that schools’ efforts to foster prosocial behaviors as part of children’s development may be more impactful if they are integrated into the curriculum in a sustained way, rather than being implemented in the form of one-off interventions, like anti-bullying weeks.
Mental Health in Adolescence
As well as being more prosocial, children who had closer relationships with their parents at age three also tended to have fewer symptoms of poor mental health in later childhood and adolescence.
The Importance of Early Relationships
Katsantonis said that the findings underlined the importance of cultivating strong early attachments between parents and children, which is already widely seen as critical to supporting child development in other areas.
“So much of this comes back to parents,” Katsantonis said. “How much they can spend time with their children and respond to their needs and emotions early in life matters enormously.”
“Some may need help learning how to do that, but we should not underestimate the importance of simply giving them time. Closeness only develops with time, and for parents who are living or working in stressful and constrained circumstances, there often isn’t enough. Policies which address that, at any level, will have many benefits, including enhancing children’s mental resilience and their capacity to act positively towards others later in life, shaping their children’s future.”
