For years, different investigations have shown that children who grow up in a more affluent environment tend to eat more adequately and have better social skills. Now, a study promoted by the sociologist Matthew A. Andersson, from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Baylor University, in the United States, suggests that, in addition, the relationship that children have with their parents can decisively affect their health , even for decades. Thus, those who are more sheltered by their parents and live in a comfortable home tend to follow routines in their day-to-day life that benefit them in the long term, for example at mealtime, when they exercise or go to bed.
In an essay published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior , Andersson indicates that, on the contrary, minors who are not comfortable at home because they do not maintain an adequate bond with their parents tend not to eat well – they tend to eat more food garbage, for example – and their hours are much more irregular. This reduces their quality of life and negatively affects their social and emotional life. Furthermore, parental love seems to correct the negative impact that growing up in a more impoverished socioeconomic environment can have on child development.
Andersson, who has studied this relationship in more than 1,600 individuals, points out that children who are victims of abuse tend to have more health problems in the future even if they grew up in a more economically wealthy household.
Image: Dawn Hudson / CC0
