Like Narcissistic Parent, Like Narcissistic Child?

“You have your mother’s nose, and your father’s narcissism!” For better or worse, through genes or through environment, parents pass along many things to their children. And one of those might be narcissistic traits, as highlighted in a new paper titled The Apple of Daddy’s Eye: Parental Overvaluation Links Narcissistic Traits of Father and Child.…

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COVID-19 Might Be Changing People’s Intentions of Becoming Parents

The new way of life brought about by the current pandemic has many people rethinking their long-term plans, and that may include reevaluating their desire to have children. According to a new study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the effect of COVID-19 on people’s intention of having kids might work in both…

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When Are Teens Comfortable Talking With Their Moms About Sex?

Parents are a useful resource for teenagers to learn about sex and sexual health. Of course, that doesn’t mean teens are going to go out of their way to engage their parents in discussions about sex. A new study from researchers at University of New Brunswick sheds light on what factors play into adolescents’ willingness…

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Online Interventions Can Smooth Divorce

Marriages can go south for a variety of reasons, but whatever the cause, the effect can include damage to one’s mental health. Regular readers of the AllPsych blog might recall a study that came out last year looking at the most common reasons for divorce among couples in Denmark. Now, the team of researchers who…

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Short Interval Between Children Ups Risk of Divorce

We all like a fairytale love story, but psychologists are just as interested in stories about marriages that fall apart. That much is clear from a study I wrote about last year, in which researchers surveyed a couple thousand residents of Denmark about their reasons for divorce. Participants found a whole range of shortcomings in…

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Family Connectedness Predicts Teen Coping Skills

The family someone comes from can shape how they relate to the world around them – including how they cope with stressful situations, as it turns out. A new study from researchers in Canada and New Zealand suggests that the sense of connection teenagers have with their families foreshadows the coping skills they will develop,…

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Is Your Phubbing Hurting Your Kids?

“Phubbing” is an invented word for a phenomenon we all know to be quite real: the act of snubbing someone by burying your face in a smartphone. Psychologists have previously tied phubbing to worse mental health and less social connectedness. Now, a study adds evidence that phubbing can be bad for families too, with parents’…

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Lying: Not the Best Parenting Strategy

Sometimes it’s temping just to tell children whatever they want to hear. Even for parents who preach the value of honesty, a little lie here or there can seem acceptable if it gets the desired behavior from children. According to a 2009 study, lying is a relatively common parenting technique. Parents lie for different reasons.…

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Praising Hard Work Can Make Infants More Persistent

When you were a kid, maybe you read The Little Engine That Could, a story about a modest train locomotive whose persistence pays off. One possible reason for this story’s popularity is that many parents see persistence as a core ingredient for life success to pass on to their children. This emphasis on hard work…

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Parents’ Warm Encouragement Can Help Shy Toddlers

How can parents help shy toddlers become more at ease in social situations? A new study suggests that a combination of warmth and gentle prompting to engage socially might be the answer. The study involved 55 toddlers between 21 and 24 months of age who were temperamentally disposed toward shy behavior. In the study, these…

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