Of unhappy kids & overbearing parents

Seema Singh — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:22:00 GMT

How often have you tried coaxing a serious looking child into a cheerful mood, believing that children ought to be jovial and playful? At least I have done this several times, both at home and in gatherings.

But according to this new research A hidden cost of happiness in children in the journal Development Science, happiness, which is generally considered an emotion with only beneficial effects, particularly in children, may affect their cognitive abilities. Researchers say: "Happiness may have unintended and possibly undesirable cognitive consequences, even in childhood".

This experimental study shows that a certain style of information processing arising out of happiness may turn out to be a ‘liability' in certain kinds of problem solving. Researchers argue that a happy state of mind induces some sort of complacency leading children to ignore details and be distracted. "Sadness indicates something is amiss, triggering detail-oriented analytical processing," they say.

Bottom line: "Artificially inflating a child's mood may have unintended and possibly undesirable cognitive consequences."

I am sure there already may be a group or two out there disputing or supporting this, but the finding holds a mirror to parents, especially those who force jolliness on their pre-teens.

And that brings me to another study on parenting in the forthcoming edition of Journal of Personality. Authored by psychology professor, Geneviève Mageau, Université de Montréal, the study says that parental control directly influences whether a child will develop a harmonious or obsessive passion for his/her favorite hobby.

Mageau studied 588 musicians and athletes in age group 6 and 38 years who practice their hobby at different levels --beginner, intermediate and expert. She found that adults often force their offspring to pursue an activity against their will.

"The child learns that by obeying their parents they will be loved. The risk is that as adults they continue to pursue the activity to maintain their self-esteem."

Share this post: email it! | del.icio.us! | digg it! | newsVine!

Lab Rats : children

Of unhappy kids & overbearing parents