Monday, March 22, 2010

Overprotection causes brain damage

NewScientist magazine reports on a new study:
Overprotective parents inhibit more than their kids' freedom: they may also slow brain growth in an area linked to mental illness.

Children whose parents are overprotective or neglectful are believed to be more susceptible to psychiatric disorders – which in turn are associated with defects in part of the prefrontal cortex.

To investigate the link, Kosuke Narita of Gunma University, Japan, scanned the brains of 50 people in their 20s and asked them to fill out a survey about their relationship with their parents during their first 16 years.
No, I am not convinced by this study. I am posting it for the (more obvious) conclusion that the more overprotective parent is not necessarily the better parent.

Sometimes parents in family court battle to prove that each is more overprotective than the other, as if that were a good thing. The bias of the court is to avoid harm, so many judges seems to believe that they should decide on the side of overprotection.

Overprotection is a bad thing, not a good thing. If your common sense doesn't tell you that, then read the studies.

3 comments:

BusyHandz said...

??? So what they are saying is that an overprotective parent is just as bad as a neglectful parent? And what constitutes "overprotection" vs. "normal" protection? I can't think of a parent out there who doesn't believe that they are doing what's best for their children, even when someone else (or the law) thinks otherwise.

Meanwhile, this is one more study (read: waste of money) that one side or the other will use against the other to "prove" that one is either "overprotective" or "neglectful." Meanwhile, the only people who benefit are the $400/hour lawyers.

Seriously, I need to find out how to get grant money to fund research into Legal Abuse Syndrome and its effect on children.

buy cialis said...

I can not believe, read and read this information and is spectacular, the overprotection cause such problems, I just thought to cause psychological problems

Anonymous said...

Overprotection is a bad thing! My parents, mostly mom thought they needed to think for me instead of allowing me to make my mistakes and learn from them. I left home at age 18 just so I COULD think for myself!! At least with my independent personality I did things for myself so I could get out of that hell hole.

My first boyfriend/husband thought he needed to finish raising me since my own parents didn't want to. Where the hell he got that thought, I have no idea. Nobody asked him to!

On the flip side of this, I had a friend whose mother didn't care one bit about her. We both agreed that we have bad mothers, and somewhere in the middle of these extremes would have had been better.

BTW, a GOOD parent is one who'll give more responsibility to their child once that child proves they can handle it. Another friend had a teenaged daughter and he treated her like an adult when she did adult things, and when she acted like a child he treated her like a child. He had no sympathy for her when her grades went down just because she was either on the phone or playing games.