Upbringing in single-parent families affects the mental health of children
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Psychologists from Canada after a series of experiments, were able to prove the importance of raising a child in a full family. A full-fledged family in which a child grows plays a very important role for his future mental health. At the moment, such a theory is confirmed only by studies conducted on laboratory mice.
At the Toronto Health Center, which is located at the university in the specialists studied the behavior of two groups of rodents. The first group received a conditional full name, the young ones were brought up by both parents, the second group was defective, in which only the mother was engaged in the upbringing of offspring. The scientists found that rodents from the defective group had poor abilities to establish social ties, besides they showed more aggressive behavior towards other rodents, in comparison with rodents from a full-fledged group, who were brought up by both parents. Also, scientists found that females that grew up without a father's involvement were more sensitive to such a psychostimulating substance as amphetamine, and males - had abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for cognitive activity and behavior in society.
The main author of the study Gabriela Gobi noted that the results obtained by their group are identical to the data obtained after observing the children brought up in an incomplete family. In particular, there is a tendency to addiction to girls from inferior families. In this field, specialists have already conducted several observations of children, whose upbringing was forced only by the mother. Even earlier, scientists noted the fact that girls from such families often had a toxic dependence. As Gabriela Gobi said, this once again confirms the fact that mice are a great model to study various mental disorders in humans.
Previously, scientists have identified a link between bad behavior of boys and workload at the work of fathers. The results of the observation showed fathers who are constantly busy at work, sons have problems with behavior. About 3,000 children born between 1989 and 1991 were observed. The results of the observations were recorded when the children were 5, 8 and 10 years old. Approximately 18% of the fathers out of the total, spent more than 55 hours a week at work. If a father who was at work had a son, then the child's behavior became worse with time, in comparison with children from more free parents. Under the bad behavior of children, scientists meant the manifestation of aggression towards peers, the inability to control their own emotions, the refusal to obey their parents. And scientists noted the fact that the workload of the mothers did not affect the behavior of the boys, just like the long absence of the father - the behavior of the daughter. Experts suggest that this is due, most likely, to the fact that women work less than men. Also, scientists do not exclude the possibility that in girls the effect of frequent fatherlessness can manifest in another form or at a later age.
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