From physical appearance to voice, many traits we acquire are genetic legacies from our parents. However, there is more than just genetics at play when it comes to the parental influences.
The decisions parents make also have the power to shape aspects of our personalities. A notable example of this is the tendency toward anxiety, which can be traced back to the choices our parents made.
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In 2015, a study of great importance followed a sample of 900 fraternal and identical twins who, in turn, became fathers.
The results revealed something intriguing: children tended to share more similarities with their own parents than with their parents' sisters.
The finding was pointed to the remarkable influence of parental choices and decisions in shaping their children's traits.
To investigate and support the hypothesis that anxiety is not merely a genetic trait, researchers took a meticulous approach.
They compared anxiety levels between the two sisters and their children, seeking to discern whether there was a direct revelation.
The assumption underlying this analysis is that a child should, ideally, show similar levels of anxiety to both its parent and that parent's identical peers. This is justified by the fact that the child shares an equal amount of genetic material with both.
In other words, the expected scenario would be that the child reflects the amount of anxiety present in the father and also in the identical twin to that father, since the shared DNA is equivalent between these three parts.
By comparing the responses of two mothers and their children's anxiety, the research sought to discern whether the observed patterns could be attributed primarily to genetics or whether other influences, such as environment or parental decisions, played a role significant.
This finding sheds light on an intriguing aspect: what exactly are parents doing to contribute to their children's propensity for anxiety?
The answer may lie in the emotional dynamics that occur in the family environment. Children are highly perceptive and sensitive to their parents' emotions and behaviors.
The study points to several other ways in which anxiety can be transmitted between parents and children, and vice versa.
One such way involves children's remarkable ability to pick up on their parents' fears and concerns, either by watching their actions or listening to their words.
This process can trigger a cascade effect, in which children internalize these fears and concerns, starting to develop their own anxieties.
In addition, the study identifies another factor that contributes to the transmission of anxiety from parents to children, known as "negative parenting behaviors".
Essentially, this occurs when parents intentionally hide or protect information from the child, often relating to things the parents themselves have.
This behavior can create an environment of uncertainty and insecurity for the child, leading him to adopt anxiety patterns in response to this lack of transparency.
The finding highlights the complexity of parent-child interactions when it comes to anxiety. They reinforce the notion that parents' emotional experiences, as well as their actions and words, have a direct impact on children's emotions and behaviors.
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