12 Childhood Events That Influence Our Adult Life

Childhood affects us more than it seems. Hundreds of studies show this. The origins of how we behave in adulthood most often lie in our childhood. If today you are obese or having matured, became a very secretive person, then looking back, you can find out when it started.

What are the events from our childhood that influence us as adults?

1. If your parents did not allow you making independent decisions, then as you grow up, you will become a person who is pathologically dependent on his/her partner.

"If your wonderful parents didn't let you dress the way you wanted, didn't let you choose your friends or your food, then you could end up becoming a pathologically dependent person," mental health advisor Laura Dessauer says.

This means that as you get older, you will start looking for a relationship in which all power and control is concentrated in the hands of your partner.

2. If you were close to your father, now you should have no problems in your intimate life.

If you had close emotional bond with your father as a child, then you will be able to maintain healthy intimate relationship with your partner later in life.

“The study found a clear link between the quality of the father-son relationship and interpersonal relationships in later life,” lead researcher Dr. Nurit Nahmani said.

3. If your parents were constantly supervising you, you can become a very stubborn adult.

Stubbornness is a defense mechanism that is developed in children so that they can resist the will of their parents who seek to constantly control them. Growing up, children usually do not lose this trait.

4. If you watched too much TV, your communication skills may be suppressed.

After observing mothers and their babies during the study, the researchers concluded that television can weaken the bond between parent and child. Even when parents and children watched the same show, parental comments tended to be completely unrelated to what their children were saying. And since it is communication with parents that forms the child's primary social skills, such unproductive communication prevents these skills from developing normally.

5. Watching violent programs can make you violent.

According to a 15-year study, children change their behavior after violent scenes in which performers are rewarded for the abuse. For example, if a child is shown a detective who succeeds in bringing the killer to justice after a serious confrontation with him, this will lead to the child grabbing, pushing and fighting more. Even after he or she grows up.

6. If you imitated your parents, then you are an open person.

If you copied everything that your parents did, even if it didn't make sense, then you quickly realized that all your actions lead to some, sometimes unexpected, result. This will make you more open to cultural exchange and information transfer later on.

This activity is peculiar only to humans: chimpanzees have demonstrated that they can also imitate actions, but only if these actions are of practical benefit.

“Only we do this, and primates do not,” psychologist Mark Nielsen of the University of Queensland in Australia says.

7. If you are often punished, you can become secretive as you grow up.

In his book Drive, author Daniel Pink explains that trying to influence a child's behavior by offering rewards or punishments often leads to non-desirable behaviors. Instead, children will try their best to avoid being caught next time.

Conclusion: If you were often punished as a child, you most likely behaved even worse, but you knew how not to get caught. And you could end up becoming a very secretive adult.

8. If your parents were alcohol abusers, you are probably a very serious adult.

If you grew up and witnessed how your parents abuse alcohol or drugs, then it is very likely that you gradually became a "parent" for your own mom or dad.

Since you essentially missed your entire childhood, you have become incredibly serious and may struggle to have good fun. You are also too responsible.

9. If you were mentally traumatized as a child, then growing up, you can get obesity.

Several studies have shown a correlation between sexual harassment (and other traumatic childhood experiences) and an eating disorder. A 2007 study found that women who experienced childhood sexual abuse have a 27% higher risk of obesity compared to women who did not. And in men, this risk is increased up to 66%.

10. If you were abused as a child, you often suffer from depression.

At King's College London, a study of 26,000 people found that people who were subjected to various forms of abuse in childhood experience depression twice as often as the average. There are several reasons for this phenomenon: lack of communication between mother and child, excessive discipline in the family, cruelty that generates fear.

11. If you grew up in poverty, your short-term memory will be worse.

People who come from the lower socio-economic strata, do not have very good short-term memory in adulthood (that is, the ability to keep several objects in memory at the same time), Oregon Research University found.

12. If your parents divorced when you were little, then in adulthood it will negatively affect your relationship with them.

If your parents divorced when you were between the ages of 3 and 5, your relationship with them is likely to be very tense as you grow up, especially your relationship with your father, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. However, the early divorce of your parents will not affect your relationship with the opposite sex in any way.