 Anxiety is an issue that is being brought to light more and more frequently in mainstream media, which can really help those that suffer from this issue. People often see anxiety as just something that everyone experiences, but it's important to recognize that there's a difference between the occasional bout of nerves and the debilitating symptoms of those that suffer from anxiety as an actual mental illness. Graham C.L. Davy is an experimental psychopathologist. He researches mental health in labs, and in particular tries to get a better understanding of the causes of anxiety-based problems through controlled experimentation. Davy has spoken a lot about the phenomenon of helicopter parents. As Davy explains, it's only natural for parents to want to do the best for their kids, particularly in terms of health and education, but helicopter parents probably overdo this. Davy elaborates further, saying, In life, everyone will be faced by threats and challenges at some point, and will need to know how to deal with these when they arise. Kids whose parents shield them from every kind of challenge, even challenges they face in education, run the risk of growing up anxious, largely because their parents' protective behavior has prevented them from practicing suitable coping responses, and has conveyed to them that maybe there is something frightening about those things their parents have been shielding them from. Along with helicopter parents, you have snow plow parents. Snow plow parents are probably the worst, observed Davy. By removing everything in life that might be a potential obstacle to their child, they never allow their children to learn how to cope with their own obstacles in life. I suspect many helicopter parents are themselves anxious people, who are genuinely attempting to do the best for their kids, says Davy, when discussing what makes helicopter parents so protective. But as a result, they're not allowing their offspring to find out about the world and how to cope with it. Davy points out that kids don't come with manuals. Every parent has a different way of raising kids, but it's been proven time and again that over-protection is a downside and doesn't allow children to develop coping mechanisms later in life. Davy is quick to point out what a major influence a parent can have on the mental health of their children. Parents can be quite subjective about what issues they consider important in their children's lives, explains Davy, but arguably more important than this is the way these issues are dealt with. Negative parenting, for example, is particularly problematic and a common source of mental health problems in offspring. Negative parenting includes disciplining strategies such as threatening a child, you stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about, or attending to the child only when they're doing something wrong. Studies have shown that about 30% of our anxiety can be traced to our own genetics, but the other 70% is influenced by experience and upbringing. Some 10-month-old babies can pick up on negative behaviors from a parent and avoid things that their parents have behaved negatively towards, Davy explains. This probably stays with kids through their childhood and is likely to override any contrary explanations given by the parent. Vicarious learning is a significant way in which children pick up anxieties throughout childhood. Many non-human animals also learn their fears by watching other conspecifics behaving fearfully, so it's quite a common mechanism in nature. A parent will need a very convincing argument to dissuade an offspring not to be fearful of something they've seen someone else behaving fearfully of, too. Graham clearly shows how parents have a massive impact on what experiences children will take from the world around them. If you convince a child that something should be feared, even if you don't intend to, then they will be more likely to fear it as well. It is good to allow a child to experience things in their own way, instead of removing all risks that they may face, although it is understandable to want to protect your child. Parenting is a difficult thing, but as long as you're there for your child and ready to help when needed, you'll be just fine. Be sure to check out Davy's article on his Psychology Today blog, Helicopter, Snowplow, and Bubble Wrap Parenting to learn more about this topic, and be on the lookout for his new book, The Anxiety Epidemic, due to be published by Little Brown Books in 2018. What are your thoughts about anxiety and parenting? Be sure to comment below and, as always, like and subscribe if you'd like to see more content from Psych2Go. Thanks for watching.