Kids of older parents tend to be better behaved, claims new research
Now here’s a huge benefit to being an older mum or dad.
Researchers have found that children of older parents exhibit fewer behavioural problems overall.
Children of older parents tend to be better behaved
We’re often reminded of fertility declining for women as they age as well as other risks but experts have found a positive reason for starting a family later on in life – better-behaved kids!
The report analysed data from four different studies in the Netherlands of 32,892 children aged between 10 and 12.
Experts looked for behavioural problems and found that both parents and teachers reported fewer problems with kids who had older mums and dads.
This may be because older parents are more established in their career and more financially comfortable.
“It is promising, and it makes sense,” relationship and parenting expert Wendy Walsh told Healthline.
“The longer you wait, the smarter you are, the more education you have, maybe the better your finances are, the more resources you have, the less likely your kid is going to be acting out.”
However, Wendy says the data may not be fully accurate.
“There are a couple of things to consider when looking at these studies,” she said.
“First of all, they are pulling data from multiple different studies.
“That’s not the same as going out, finding a cohort group, giving them a pre-test and a post-test and looking for this one specific thing.”
Wendy also believes the self-reporting done by the parents could be biased.
“When parents are reporting, there is going to be over-reporting of favourable things,” she added.
“And the older a parent is, the smarter they are about knowing to over-report favourable behaviour.
“So we can discount the reports from fathers, mothers, and children themselves.
“Because the truth is, none of us really know ourselves or our lives well enough to be able to report objectively. The teachers are really the only reliable reporters here.”
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