Supporting the mental health of young people today could benefit future generations, as emerging research shows how parents’ wellbeing across their whole lifetimes influences their children.
The mental health impacts of trauma and emotional distress may extend from parents to their children. Yet a positive history of wellbeing could also cross generations.
Your parents’ mental health likely shaped your early social and emotional development, say researchers from Deakin University’s Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development (SEED).
And mounting evidence suggests that your parents’ experiences across their whole lifetimes could have influenced your development. Traumatic or distressing experiences your parents had even decades before your birth may still affect you, found a recent review by SEED researchers.