A new study suggests that positive interactions between parents and kids can discourage personality disorders later in life. The research said that spending time with a child by reading with them, helping with homework or teaching them organizational skills helps to foster better psychological health in adulthood.
“The strong interpersonal connectedness and social skills that children learn from having active, healthy engagements with adults fosters positive psychological development. With it, a child develops his or her affiliation system - their connection to the world of people,” said lead study author Mark F. Lenzenweger, of Birmingham University.
"Without it, the way a child connects with other human beings can be severely impaired. And as I found out, it is this impairment that predicts the appearance of schizoid personality disorder symptoms in emerging adulthood and beyond,” he added.
The relationships foster a willingness to engage with others, which is the psychological foundation of the human experience but for some PD sufferers, this willingness to connect with other people is markedly absent.
The study also suggests that the experience of a rich proximal process in early life foster the development of a strong affiliation system and healthier personality adjustment in adulthood.
The data was drawn from Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders (LSPD) study, which began in 1991.
The research is published in journal Development and Psychopathology.
