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According to a new report, children raised by conservative parents are significantly more likely to have a stronger relationship with their parents and are at much lower risk of developing mental health disorders than children raised by liberal parents. While the study does not make the case that political ideology itself leads to better outcomes for children, it does find a strong correlation between conservative political views and successful parenting strategies.
The nonpartisan report, which was released late last month, is a joint project of the Brookings Institution, Gallup, and the Institute for Family Studies. As Jonathan Rothwell, the study’s principal author, notes, prior research on what factors influence adolescent mental health outcomes has “almost completely ignored” parenting styles and the parent-child relationship, which Rothwell argues is the most important influence on whether a child will have mental health challenges.
“Very conservative parents, on average, enjoy the strongest relationships with their adolescent children, and liberals experience the worst,” Rothwell writes. “Conservative parents are 8 percentage points more likely to be in a good relationship with their adolescent child than liberal parents, and the gap is 14 percentage points between very conservative and liberal parents.”
As a result, “Adolescents with very conservative parents are 16 to 17 percentage points more likely to be in good or excellent mental health compared to their peers with very liberal parents.”
Meanwhile, “Only 55 percent of adolescents of liberal parents reported good or excellent mental health compared to 77 percent of those with conservative or very conservative parents.”
The test methodology takes into account both the parent’s opinion of their relationship with their child and the child’s opinion of their relationship with their parents. Notably, “This relationship between conservativism and parenting remains significant even after controlling for an extensive list of parental demographic and socio-economic measures.”
As Rothwell explains, conservative parents are much more likely to employ more effective parenting strategies than liberal parents, including being able to “effectively discipline their children, while also displaying affection and responding to their needs.”
The study also found that conservative parents are more likely to value their own marriage, and that this leads to a better relationship with their children – in particular when they become teenagers. Unsurprisingly, children whose parents have a strong marriage are far less likely to experience mental health issues.
Overall, Rothwell argues, the best mental health results for kids come from an “authoritative” parenting style, defined as “warm, responsive, and rule-bound, disciplined parenting.” Conservative parents are far more likely to adopt this style as opposed to the two negative styles Rothwell outlines: “authoritarian,” which is characterized by being “cold or harsh,” and “permissive,” which lacks proper discipline.
This study is particularly important as the country continues to see an alarming rise in reported youth mental health issues and youth suicide rates continue to soar.
In 2021, the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry declared “a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health.” According to the CHA, 42 percent of all high school students have experienced “persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness.” That figure includes a shocking 60 percent of teenage girls. Overall from 2007 to 2021, youth suicide skyrocketed 62 percent.
These problems became even more dire during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many children were shut off from society despite being at little to no risk from the virus. Between 2020 and 2023, 18 times more teenagers died deaths of despair than died from COVID-19.
Critically, as Rothwell notes, “Mental health problems in early adolescence predict mental health problems in adulthood, with wide-ranging implications for individuals, families, communities, and society. One’s capacity for developing and maintaining relationships and participating productively and competently in social affairs” is largely dependent on that individual’s mental state during adolescence.
Despite this, however, the nation’s public health institutions appear to be doing little to either acknowledge the devastating impact of COVID lockdowns or how parenting style influences mental health outcomes. As Rothwell notes, the CDC “almost completely ignores” parent-child relationships and parenting strategies in the agency’s recommendations and studies.
“Instead,” Rothwell writes, “the agency emphasizes diagnosis, access to mental health services, and the avoidance of racial/ethnic discrimination as among the most important issues in youth mental health.” It would seem that, once again, the federal government’s obsession with “equity” policies and identity politics is getting in the way of actually helping the American people and addressing the real crises the country faces.
More than a month after Rothwell released his write-up of the study, neither the CDC nor any other government agency (or, for that matter, any legacy news outlet) has acknowledged the survey’s important findings. Until they do, and until American society begins to treat the root cause of the youth mental health crisis rather than just its symptoms, kids will likely continue to suffer.
BY Andrew Shirley a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist
Source: AMAC
