Tiger moms are less likely to feel stressed and experience mental health problems, according to the Daily Mail.
The new study confirmed that 'tiger mums' or moms who put their children first above everything else are actually happier compared to those who don't. These findings challenged the myth that parents who are extremely involved in their children's life sacrifice their own well-being.
A team of psychologists involved in the study claimed that labels such as 'tiger mums', 'helicopter parents' and 'little emperors' undermine parents who place their children at the center of their lives and assume that their needs only come secondary, if not last. However, they argued that by focusing on maximizing their children's happiness, 'tiger mums' get to enjoy their lives and role as parents more.
Claire Ashton-James, lead author of the study from VU University in Amsterdam said that "there is little research to support the assumption that investing time in your children comes at a personal cost." "In short, when it comes to parental well-being, you reap what you sow", she added. Dr. Ashton-James conducted two studies involving 322 parents who had at least one child aged 18 or younger living at home. The first study asked parents to complete a child-centrism scale to gauge their parenting style.
The researchers found that child-centric parents were significantly more likely to report higher levels of happiness and a greater sense of purpose. Parents involved in the second study were asked to retell their previous day's activities and report how they felt after every activity. Results showed that more involved parents had stronger positive feelings and weaker negative feelings. The study which was published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science concluded that "we found a significant positive relationship between child-centrism and the subjective happiness and meaning of life that participants reported deriving from parenting,'
