Parental Influence on Psychological Traits
Session Title
Education: Parents and Children
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Faculty Mentor
Kathleen West, Ph.D.
Abstract
Parents play a major role in their child’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. link between parental influence on children’s psychological traits as college students. Winthrop University students were asked to report on their involvement with their caregivers on an anonymous survey/questionnaire created by researchers. We recruited 43 students (84% female; 58% Caucasian, 35% African American, 17% other). Results show that overall, there is a high level of stress; however, these stress levels may be due more to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic than leftover from parent/child interaction. Many participants reported feeling loved and being happy with themselves. Interestingly, they also reported high levels of thinking negatively about themselves. The results show that parental influence can impact a child’s well-being either positively or negatively depending on how they raise their child. Future studies need to address this topic during a time of less overall stress and also need to better target getting data from the caregivers for comparison.
Honors Thesis Committee
Kathleen West, Ph.D.; Michael Lipscomb, Ph.D.; Merry Sleigh, Ph.D.; Jennifer McDaniel, M.S.W.
Course Assignment
HONR 450H - West & HONR 451H - Lipscomb
Type of Presentation
Oral presentation
Parental Influence on Psychological Traits
Parents play a major role in their child’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. link between parental influence on children’s psychological traits as college students. Winthrop University students were asked to report on their involvement with their caregivers on an anonymous survey/questionnaire created by researchers. We recruited 43 students (84% female; 58% Caucasian, 35% African American, 17% other). Results show that overall, there is a high level of stress; however, these stress levels may be due more to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic than leftover from parent/child interaction. Many participants reported feeling loved and being happy with themselves. Interestingly, they also reported high levels of thinking negatively about themselves. The results show that parental influence can impact a child’s well-being either positively or negatively depending on how they raise their child. Future studies need to address this topic during a time of less overall stress and also need to better target getting data from the caregivers for comparison.
