Written by by LU Staff at libertyunyielding.com
Teens who have “very conservative” parents are 22% more likely to have good or excellent mental health compared to teenagers with liberal parents, according to recent polling by Gallup.
The findings are described in a detailed report released in November by the non-partisan Institute for Family Studies (IFS).
“Only 55% of adolescents of liberal parents reported good or excellent mental health compared to 77% of those with conservative or very conservative parents,” notes the IFS report.
The report, written by Gallup economist and Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathan Rothwell, found that conservative and very conservative parents were the “most likely to adopt the parenting practices associated with adolescent mental health.”Rothwell observed that “conservative parents enjoy higher quality relationships with their children, characterized by fewer arguments, more warmth, and a stronger bond, according to both parent and child reporting.”
“This relationship between conservativism and parenting remains significant even after controlling for an extensive list of parental demographic and socio-economic measures,” he noted, and the study’s results applied regardless of race, ethnicity, household income, education level, or the parent’s sex.
The recent Gallup poll results are also reported by Fox News. They are consistent with longstanding research showing that people who identify as progressive report lower levels of happiness and psychological well-being than conservatives. This is known as the“well-being gap.”