Parent-Child Relationships

“…the mother and child reunion, is only a motion away.” Paul Simon

Paul Simon was right about the mother and child reunion being a very close bond. The parent-child relationship is qualitatively different than all of our other relationships.

Dr. Keith Crnic, Professor and Chairman of the Psychology Department at Arizona State University has extensively studied this relationship for most of his career. His lab has looked at how the nature of stress in parent-child relationships influences child and family function as well asand has the used longitudinal studies to look at the association between parenting styles and children’s emotions and behaviors that may contribute to early mental health issues in children. Parent-child relationships develop over time, influenced by child characteristics, parent characteristics, and the contexts in which families operate. These factors mix together in unique ways to create incredible diversity in the qualities of those relationships.