Is bad behavior due to bad parenting? This is perhaps one of the questions that come to mind when parents face unwarranted criticisms when their children misbehave. But according to the latest study published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, bad behavior may not be due to bad parenting, instead by a language barrier.
The Challenge Of Talking To An Adolescent Child
Talking to a teenage child is sometimes a struggle for most parents, especially when children and parents don't share a common language to speak. According to Medical Xpress, this is currently the dilemma most immigrant families in the United States experienced.
But did you know that lack of common language between parents and children can lead to negative impacts on their behavioral growth and development? Based on the study conducted by a team of Iowa State University researchers, this language barrier issue may be the culprit as to why adolescents today show aggressiveness in their behavior.
The Adverse Effects Of Language Barrier On A Child's Behavior
Iowa State University human development and family studies assistant professor and lead study author Thomas Schofield revealed that lack of common language between parents and children may result in crucial social ramifications. Schofield also stressed the importance of communication and understanding between family members, which if effectively implemented can stop the alienation of children towards their parents.
"Parents want to make sure our kids understand why we're doing what we're doing, and particularly to explain our actions if we've been inconsistent or insensitive," Schofield explained, as per Iowa State University's News Service. "If adolescents grow weary of jumping that linguistic hurdle when communicating with their immigrant parents, over time they may start to fill that need to communicate with someone else. People do this in any relationship. We stop trying to make it work with the person who can't, and we find someone else who can."
Parents Are Not To Blame For A Child's Bad Behavior
Schofield also highlighted the findings that adolescent self-control and behavioral aggressiveness are not a result of good or bad parenting. He emphasized that there are "no villains," only a need to remove the language barrier that set immigrant parents and their children apart.
Positive Discipline And Warm Parenting
In the study, researchers found that positive discipline and warm parenting were the keys to lessen behavioral aggressiveness while increasing a child's self-control. But when parents become rude and unpleasant, not to mention the added stress over lack of common language, teenagers tend to have less self-control but more aggressive.
That's why Schofield and his team urged for a campaign to help and support immigrant parents in their quest for proficient English education while children learn more about their native language or dialect. Unfortunately, this plan seemed to be feasible only in theory but implementing it would definitely be hard, Science Daily reports.
Do you agree that language barrier is to blame for a child's bad behavior? Share your thoughts below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
