On November 30 of last year, the Institute for Family Studies, working with Gallup, released a study which found that Children who grow up in politically liberal households are more prone to suffer mental health problems.
Jonathan Rothwell, the author of the study and the principal economist at Gallup and a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institute, wrote on X (formerly twitter) on Jan. 10 that “Conservative parents are more likely than liberal parents to have high-quality relationships with their children and report less frequent conflict.” He added, “There are two-dimensions of parenting that predict youth mental health and relationship quality: warmth and demandingness. Conservative parents score roughly the same as liberals on warmth but tend to be much more demanding, which may explain higher relationship quality/health.”
On Jan. 10, Rothwell published the report The Quality of Parent-Child Relationships in U.S. Families. In that report, Rothwell references the November 30th release of Parenting is the Key to Adolescent Mental Health, “Previous work from Gallup finds that conservative parents are more likely to adopt the parenting practices that best predict youth mental health and foster high-quality relationships.”
Previously, on December 1st, the Washington Examiner reported, “Conservative and very conservative parents are the most likely to adopt the parenting practices associated with adolescent mental health,” according to Rothwell. “Liberal parents score the lowest, even worse than very liberal parents, largely because they are the least likely to successfully discipline their children.”
Among the differences that conservative parents displayed from liberal parents were the ability to “effectively discipline their children, while also displaying affection and responding to their needs.” The study found that “right-leaning parents also have better quality relationships with their children, “characterized by fewer arguments, more warmth, and a stronger bond.”
It is important to note that, according to the study, socioeconomic status does not determine mental health outcomes. The report found that higher income and higher educated parents did not score better in the study. Additionally, the data found that race and ethnicity did not determine mental health outcomes either.
In the Examiner’s article Rothwell added, “No effort is being made by leading public health organizations to inform parents about what works to prevent depression, anxiety, or behavioral problems in teens,” Rothwell said. “When it comes to teen mental health, the implication is that medical experts are the only people who can prevent illness or help if it arises — often with prescription drugs.”
“Parents are disempowered and sidelined, and yet social science continues to show that their actions, judgments, and relationships are the key to their teen’s mental health,” he concluded.
On December 6th, the Carolina Journal reported that Rothwell found “liberal parents are more likely to have a permissive parenting style” and “are the least likely to successfully discipline their children.”
The Association of Mature American Citizens reported on the study on Dec. 19th writing, “According to a new report, children raised by conservative parents are significantly more likely to have a stronger relationship with their parents and are at much lower risk of developing mental health disorders than children raised by liberal parents. While the study does not make the case that political ideology itself leads to better outcomes for children, it does find a strong correlation between conservative political views and successful parenting strategies.”
Finally, on January 5th, The Hill reported that Rothwell found that “Liberal parents give their kids worse mental health than conservatives.”
