Children’s characteristics may influence family dynamics over time, challenging the traditional view that influence flows primarily from parents to children, according to a new study.
Conducted by researchers at Oxford Population Health’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science together with colleagues at the University of Oslo and Purdue University, the study also shows that children with a genetic propensity for ADHD may have greater influence over their family outcomes. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Parents are known to play a central role in shaping their children’s development. However, this new research suggests that influence may also operate in the opposite direction, through what researchers call ‘evocative effects’, where children’s characteristics help shape their environments and, over time, their families.
Researchers analysed data from nearly 40,000 Norwegian families to examine whether children’s genetic propensities for a range of health, behavioural, and cognitive traits were associated with major family outcomes, including whether their parents had more children, married, or separated.
Using genetic data from mothers, fathers and children, the researchers employed a genetic trio design where genetic data from a child is compared to that of both the child’s parents. This meant that the researchers could distinguish the child’s own genetic contribution from genetic influences inherited from the parents, providing a clearer way to investigate whether children’s characteristics may help shape family life.
Most of the traits examined, including genetic propensities related to anxiety, depression, autism, educational attainment, cognitive performance, asthma and allergies, showed no association with the family outcomes studied.
However, children with a higher genetic propensity, for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were associated with a 7% higher likelihood of parental separation. The association was stronger among families with daughters, at 11%; families with higher socioeconomic status, at 15%; and families in which mothers were older at the birth of their first child, at 10%.
The researchers emphasise that this does not mean that a child’s genes cause parents to separate. Family relationships are shaped by many factors, including financial pressures, communication, stress, health, and wider social circumstances.
Rather, the findings suggest that children’s characteristics and behaviours may influence family dynamics over time. Traits associated with ADHD, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity and difficulties with emotional regulation, can emerge early in childhood and may affect the demands experienced within the family.
Professor Melinda Mills, co-author of the study and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, Oxford Population Health, commented on how the findings highlight the importance of moving beyond one-directional accounts of family influence:
Parents clearly shape children’s development, but children are also active participants in family life. By studying genetic data from parents and children together, we can begin to understand more precisely how children’s characteristics may influence the relationships and environments around them.
Dr Evelina Akimova, first author of the study and Associate Professor in Sociology at Purdue University, said
By integrating population-genetic and demographic data, this study reframes the family as a dynamic system of mutual influence, where children inherit their parents’ worlds but also help shape them.
The study adds to a growing body of research showing that family influence is multidirectional. Parents shape their children, but children’s distinctive characteristics may also influence the course of family life.