The One Mom Trait That Guarantees You Raise Successful Daughters, According To Research
Here's how to make sure your daughter has a good head on her shoulders.
Ground Picture | Shutterstock Being a good mom often means playing the bad cop. That includes shutting down the rebellion and occasional (but often very necessary) nagging. Although nagging has gotten a negative rep — and is often used as a derogatory term against women — science has found that successful daughters are often the product of just that: a nagging mother.
The one mom trait that guarantees you raise successful daughters, according to research.
A study from the University of Essex researched 15,500 girls between the ages of 13 and 14 from 2004 to 2010. The girls who had "tough" mothers who set the bar high were found more likely to attend college and earn higher wages.
They also found that girls with tough moms were less likely to become teen mothers.
‘The measure of expectations in this study reflects a combination of aspirations and beliefs about the likelihood of attending higher education reported by the main parent, who, in the majority of cases, is the mother,’ it said.
The findings, presented at the conference of the Royal Economic Society, reveal how parents with high expectations can reduce a teenager’s chance of becoming pregnant by four percent compared to parents with ‘middling aspirations’.
Researchers of the study called on politicians and officials to try new ways to tackle the teen pregnancy epidemic by ‘increasing educational choices and expectations’.
Teenagers who get pregnant are more likely to leave school early and earn less than others if they get jobs, the report said. They also face higher chances of forming relationships with ‘poorly educated and unemployment-prone men’.
It added that despite falls in teenage pregnancy rates over the past four years, Britain still has the highest rate of adolescent motherhood in Europe.
So yeah, the years of being labeled the "uncool" mom may be annoying but it does pay off.
According to researcher Ericka Rascon-Ramirez, "In many cases, we succeeded in doing what we believed was more convenient for us, even when this was against our parents' will. But no matter how hard we tried to avoid our parents' recommendations, it is likely that they ended up influencing, in a more subtle manner, choices that we had considered extremely personal. What our parents expected about our school choices was, very likely, a major determinant of our decisions about conceiving a child or not during our teenage years."
As difficult as it may be, try to keep this bit of info in mind as you battle it out through the terrible teens and find peace in two things: 1) Your kids will be full of gratitude in the future. 2) There’s some serious karma to be dealt out once they have children of their own.
Nicole Weaver is a senior writer for Showbiz Cheat Sheet whose work has been featured in New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, and more.