Do Parents Matter?

3 Pages 760 Words

Do Parents Matter?
The article, “The Parent Trap” found in Newsweek, Judith Rich Harris argues that nurture does not play a key role in the personalities and attitudes of children while growing up. Harris claims that genes are the deciding factors in the child’s future, and that children raised by “nice” parents in a “nice” way do not turn out to be “nice” because of how they were brought up, but because of the “nice” genes their parents passed on to them. The same goes for children who are raised in a disturbing or turbulent environment. Children of divorced parents are handed down the impulsive and aggressive genes, and therefore become impulsive and aggressive adults. She says that children do not learn long-term behaviors from parents, and that, if anything, peers play a major role in influencing the children.
According to Harris, a teenager is better predicted by watching his or her peers, rather than by watching his or her parents, especially when the situation involves smoking. In other words, a teenager will more likely be a smoker if his or her peers smoke, and that observing the peers of this teenager is a better predictor than observing the parents.
In the article, it says that when parents learn how to talk to and listen to their aggressive and impulsive child, the child becomes less impulsive and aggressive, and does better in school. Harris must have overlooked this study. John Gottman of U. of Wash. Says that “There is a very strong relationship between parenting style and the social competence of their children.”
Harris’ interpretation of twins’ studies were also majorly criticized. Critics say the sample size was too small, and the measures used could support Harris’ statements. Also, such studies rely mainly on questionnaires to assess personality and to gain information of the childhoods of parents and of the current home environment.
And, when dealing with fa...